How many times have you heard someone say – “we want to implement this once so we can Reuse it over and over again…” – or some variation of this theme? The underlying assumption here is that it is better to get to the right implementation of a component so the team doesn’t have to touch it again. Let’s make it perfect, is the reasoning.

I have rarely seen this work in practice. In fact, it is very difficult to create a single perfect Software implementation. After all, your team’s understanding of the nuances and subtleties of your domain grows with time and experience. That experience is earned using a combination of trying out abstractions, continuously validating functional assumptions, and ensuring that your software implementation is providing the right hooks to model and accommodate variations.

Instead of trying for perfection, focus on continuous alignment between your domain and the software abstractions. Instead of trying to Write once and reuse many times, focus instead on anticipating change and continuous validation of requirements and associated assumptions. Instead of pursuing the one right implementation, enable easy pluggability of behavior and back it up with a robust set of automated tests. This way, you can ensure your team’s domain understanding is reflected appropriately in the software implementation.

You won’t write once – specially if your team lacks hard-won experience to create high quality abstractions. Embrace the idea that you will write something multiple times – not because it is desirable, more because it is inevitable. Deliver value to your business iteratively and deepen your understanding of both the problem and solution spaces. You will be pleasantly surprised with the results. Remember, pursuing reuse without continuous value is the wrong goal.