http://insights.brianli.net/tags/software-engineering/Recent content in Software-Engineering on Brian Li - InsightsHugoen-usMon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000http://insights.brianli.net/posts/the-over-engineering-trap/Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000http://insights.brianli.net/posts/the-over-engineering-trap/<h2 id="why-you-feel-held-hostage-by-your-own-tech">Why You Feel Held Hostage by Your Own Tech</h2> <p>There is a specific, quiet dread that settles in when you realize you don&rsquo;t actually run your business anymore — your codebase does. You&rsquo;re a designer by trade and a CEO by title, yet you find yourself spending your days managing the repercussions of prior builds, a polite euphemism for cleaning up the disasters left behind by a former developer. Instead of a lean business asset, you inherited a labyrinth of overly complicated code that managed to create two new problems for every one it solved.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> Rather than seeing this as a personal failure, it&rsquo;s important to see it as it really is: an industry trap. You have effectively become a <strong>Human API</strong>, manually bridging gaps and soothing angry customers because the system is too fragile to touch.<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup></p>