So far we've talked about the oft-repeated mistake of failing to address design up front and what it means to address good design up front. Now...

What happens if I don’t take the time for good design?
In a word: Revolt.

Think of it like a coup. Your regime will be overthrown, and it could come from any of a number of directions…or a combination of directions, and the factions won’t even have to band together. Count on get broadsided (or bent over) multiple times, by multiple entities.

Developer Revolt
When developers are thrown onto ill-defined projects, with barely defined goals and requirements, and are told to "make it happen," they can quickly become frustrated. They'll probably go into it feeling slightly unsettled, but hopeful about the prospects of getting to work on something interesting. But after a few weeks of trying to hit an ever-shifting, undefined target (and probably not being given adequate direction from anyone) their unease with ambiguity will start to show up in your code. Shortcuts will be taken, documentation (if you were getting any in the first place) will fall by the wayside, cleanly commented code will become nothing but a distant memory, and you'll get something that technically works, but will likely be close to useless. And what happens then? Then, they're getting out.

If you've brought in hired guns, they'll run away as soon as that contract is up and not give you so much as a backward glance or a wave over their shoulders. If you're doing this in-house, expect a downturn in morale, requests for re-assignments to different teams, or even attrition. Some are going read that and say that it's no big deal, they can just bring in more people, for less money. Sure, you can do that. But expect that those new people are going to be spending at least half of their time trying to figure out what the hell the old people did. Hey, maybe you can offer them a fat bonus if they agree to stay…then they're slightly less disgruntled, and you can get a little more work out of them. But deep down you'll know that it's pretty much like hiring an escort…she neither likes nor loves you, she's just simulating the experience for you in order to have access to your deep pockets.

User Revolt
Try as you might, you almost assuredly won't be able to buy the love of your users--keep in mind that users aren't strippers, you can't buy their attention or affection. And they probably aren't going to give you multiple chances at wooing them. If you roll out a product that makes their jobs or lives more difficult, you're dead. If you roll out a product that doesn't give them something that's better than what they already have--either in features or value--you're dead. Think of this like showing up for a first date in dirty jeans and a torn fraternity t-shirt left over from your college days, the likelihood of scoring a second date is so slim as to be laughable, and you’re definitely not getting past first base.

Those of you working on business applications in an enterprise environment should stop laughing now. This can happen to you. Your user audience is not nearly as captive as you think. Without an executive mandate, your software is just as dead in the water with your users as any third-party package out there. (I'll talk about that more later, too.)

And what happens when you don't have user support?

Business Revolt
Ok, so this might better be termed Abandonment. Meaning: The people who decided to fund the project are going to drop the initiative in the dirt, and they'll probably drop you in the dirt along with it. I'm not saying you'll get fired (maybe), but remember the promotion and end-of-year bonus I mentioned previously? Yeah, kiss those goodbye.

Up Next: Wrapping it up with a few tips to avoid making these mistakes.
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