Overengineering

Im my career I've seen a few projects that was "overengineered". Talented developers and architects designed complex architecture and used fancy solutions to achieve goals, which could be otherwise achieved much easier. This situation is quite common in various projects across the globe, from software projects to car industry to drugs research.

People usually think with "patterns". It's partly due to our system of education, where small children are teached that for each problem there is only one correct solution - the one on the back of your book ;). This education system limits our divergent thinking, which is essential for innovative thinking.

This way our brains are limited to a close subset of solutions. In effect, if you hear you have to do something in a different way you did it for ages, you think it's impossible. Engineers believed that buiding a car that will cost about $2000 is impossible, but Indian company Tata Motors has built a car that costs about $2100. It was a great innovation - and as this it became a great business model.

Divergent thinking is crucial for innovation. It helps us find different, easier solutions of complex problems around us. In society with limited resuources, like India, it's crucial, because building things in an old, European way, results in too much costs. You have to think how to deliver important things to your customers (who earn $2 a day) in a price they can afford.

And you - how do you deal with the temptation to overengineer your current project?