It feeds on complexity.
Every abstraction layer makes it stronger. Every undocumented integration gives it another tiny, horrible little arm.
Internal memo // classification: unsettling
There is a monster in the system.
We assumed it was technical debt. Then it started attending standups. It knows your architecture. It has opinions about your platform strategy. Do not give it Jira access.
Fig. 01 — allegedly harmless
Observe from a safe sprint distance
Warning: prolonged exposure may cause spontaneous refactoring,
excessive post-it notes, and the sudden conviction that this
really ought to be an event-driven architecture.
It fears deletion.
The creature becomes agitated when shown a pull request containing more red lines than green ones.
It knows COBOL.
We don't know where it learned COBOL. We don't know why it keeps whispering about the mainframe. Nobody asked.
$ monsterctl inspect --environment production
✓ architecture diagram located
✓ consultants accounted for
✓ sticky-note reserves sufficient
✗ monster accounted for
searching...
searching...
searching...
ERROR:
monster is reading this page
Field guidance
Build things that are easy to understand, easy to change, and easy to delete. Otherwise, eventually, something moves in.