The Over-Optimization program operates under the principle that any system can be improved
by the addition of further components, regardless of whether the original system had a
measurable deficiency. Performance, in the DQE framework, is measured primarily by
architectural complexity and the impressiveness of the accompanying diagram.
A system with fewer than six components is considered "underarchitected" and may be subject
to mandatory enhancement review under Directive OO-2023-07. Engineers are encouraged to
treat simplicity as a red flag.
Optimization Methodology
- Phase 1 — Baseline Assessment: Document the current system, note its apparent simplicity.
- Phase 2 — Component Injection: Add caching, queuing, load balancing, and an event bus. Reasons are optional.
- Phase 3 — Diagram Elaboration: Redraw the architecture with at least three swimlanes and color coding.
- Phase 4 — Benchmark: Run benchmarks. If the system is slower, add more components.
- Phase 5 — Documentation: Produce a 40-page technical report. Mark it "draft" permanently.
Approved Enhancements
- Redundant message queues (minimum two, for redundancy of the redundancy)
- A distributed cache for data that is accessed once per year
- Microservices split for any module exceeding 200 lines of code
- A dedicated observability pipeline to monitor the monitoring pipeline
- An architecture review board for the architecture review process
Success Criteria
A project is considered successfully over-optimized when a new engineer, viewing the
system diagram for the first time, says "wow" before asking what it does.
Secondary success indicator: the original engineer can no longer explain it without slides.
