Somebody summed up my thoughts succintly today about a particular piece of software that I had been playing with: “accretive design => headaches”. He also pointed out that “accretive design” is an oxymoron, which I also think is true.
From Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Accretive Ac*cre”tive, a.
Relating to accretion; increasing, or adding to, by growth.
–Glanvill.
Simple, elegant designs tend to evolve gracefully, whereas bad designs tend to lead to hack upon hack. Of course, hindsight is 20/20.