tags: #publish links: [[Business Strategy and Competition]], [[Management]] created: 2021-07-24 Sat --- # Second System Syndrome or Effect From Fred Brooks in *The Mythical Man Month*. There is a general tendency to over-design the second system - implementing all the optional things that were pragmatically skipped to get the first one to market. - The **first** time, *you know you are lacking in experience and resources*, so you're likely to build something less extravagant, or not finish at all. - The **second** time, *you know enough to have lots of ideas and ambition* and to want to try the things you didn't try last time, *but not enough to avoid the pitfalls* of making a big bloated unfinished mess. - This is, infamously, a likely bankruptcy mode *if you try to do a full rewrite*. The second system consumes all the resources and fails or launches as an inferior product; the first system is neglected and loses market. - The **third** and later times, *you are wise because you've been burnt before*.