Darkness Reigns: A Tale of Terror and Despair in the Heart of the Night

[Or, a Poe-m on Good Enough Software]

Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of software code galore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my coding door.

“‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my coding door—

Only this, and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

From my software stacks surcease of sorrow—sorrow for code forevermore.

For the rare and radiant feature that the users seek to adore,

Nameless here for evermore.

But as I sat there coding, suddenly there came an omen foreboding,

A question that haunted me with its phantom terror evermore—

What is this “good enough” software, this mysterious coding lore?

What quantification defines its measure, its required score?

Is it a simple metric, or something much more?

Thus I sought to uncover, to fathom the depths of this coding wonder,

To seek the answers hidden within this mysterious coding lore.

For what is software, but a tool of our own creation,

A means to an end, a bridge to our salvation,

A way to make our dreams a reality, a pathway to more.

And so I pondered, evermore, on this question of “good enough” software,

And what it means for the requirements we seek to explore.

For if we cannot quantify, if we cannot define,

What we need in our software, what is on the line,

Then how can we ever hope to meet those needs and more?

In the end, I found the answer, hidden in the code that we write,

In the way we approach our work, in the way we seek to delight,

Our users and our customers, our partners and our friends,

In the way we approach our coding, and the journey that never ends.

For good enough software is not a simple metric, not a simple score,

But a mindset, a philosophy, a way of coding evermore,

A way to seek perfection, but to accept imperfection too,

A way to strive for excellence, but to know when to say “we’re through.”

And so I leave you with this, my friends, my fellow coders, my kin,

A message from the depths of my soul, from the very depths within:

Seek to quantify, seek to measure, seek to meet your requirements true,

But remember that good enough software is a journey, not a destination, it’s a way of life, ever anew.