Was the lightbulb over engineered?
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH78MOOZwfv8MAMul3FD-czBddgNzZGe9GG5IzG9QAX9x_y9QrYUGx8YqBFurBMmgTY8818_9NCa2h3dchRHMyLM-mIryMhiuJEMI9nghSqb1pmgsgC0eaxbDLstDzYsakB9B2nah2wX8/w133-h200/light_bulb.jpg)
I recently posted a question over on reddit - "Personality Types and Agile" . An interesting discussion emerged about 'over-engineering' code. I find people use the label 'over-engineering' too frequently, and I don't even think the 'great Wikipedia' gets the definition quite right. Overengineering (or over-engineering , or over-kill ) is the act of designing a product to be more robust or have more features than often necessary for its intended use, or for a process to be unnecessarily complex or inefficient. - Wikipedia Let us take for example the 'lightbulb'. What is 'too robust?' for a lightbulb. - A bulb that lasts too long ?, A bulb that is energy efficient ? A bulb that doesn't suddenly explode when exposed to various environmental conditions ? The lightbulb in the picture above is known as the "Centennial Light" , it has this name because it is the worlds longest lasting lightbulb, burning since 1901 and ha