Build small systems you can explain

If you can’t describe what you built in plain language, you don’t fully own it yet.

There’s a quiet trap in software: complexity that impresses you more than it helps anyone else.

I’ve been there, extra layers, clever abstractions, tools chosen because they sounded modern. The code worked. The story didn’t. When someone asked how it worked, I needed a whiteboard and ten minutes of hedging.

Now I use a simpler test. Can I explain the system to a non-engineer without hiding behind jargon? Can I explain the failure modes to another engineer in under a minute?

If not, the design probably isn’t finished.

Small, clear systems compound. They are easier to debug, easier to hand off, and easier to improve. They also force honesty: you can’t pretend something is simple when you can’t say what it does.

Build things you can explain. Clarity is not the opposite of ambition. It’s how ambition survives contact with real users.