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The idea of plan to throw one away comes from Fred Brooks' The Mythical Man Month. The reasoning is that your first attempt to build a system is going to be a mess because there is so much you don't know. So, you might as well plan to throw that one away.

Sometimes we try to do this. We say we are going to build a prototype to explore a space and see if an idea works. More often than not those prototypes are what make it directly into production. It's hard to argue with working software, even if it has its warts.

There is also the Second System Effect to deal with. This idea also comes from Brooks.

The general tendency is to over-design the second system, using all the ideas and frills that were cautiously sidetracked on the first one.

We've eliminated so much risk by clearing up a bunch of unknowns, why not add some back in by layering in some extra concepts.