When a manager asks for hard data, that's usually just his way of saying no.

What's the simplest thing that could possibly work?

The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, it's to post the wrong answer.

I don't claim to be a methodologist, but I act like one only because I do methodology to protect myself from crazy methodologists.

What is simplicity? Simplicity is the shortest path to a solution.

Each routine you read turns out to be pretty much what you expected. You can call it beautiful code when the code also makes it look like the language was made for the problem.

Shipping first time code is like going into debt. A little debt speeds development so long as it is paid back promptly with a rewrite. The danger occurs when the debt is not repaid. Every minute spent on not-quite-right code counts as interest on that debt. Entire engineering organizations can be brought to a standstill under the debt load of an unconsolidated implementation, object-oriented or otherwise.