Business
Tolerating Architectural Embezzlement
Architectural embezzlement is when engineers or managers implement cheap solutions, such as reaching into a foreign domain to grab data, to satisfy immediate pressure. It embeds hidden dependencies that debase the value of every future engineering hour. The bill usually arrives after the perpetrator has moved on.
An engineer should never need to read data from another domain. Where the interface does not expose it, the engineer codes around the gap rather than breaking the contract. Enforcing that rule is a management responsibility. The extra cost of unrelated parts forced to move together is domain coupling.