Why “Common Sense” Can Break Software
While I was in Berlin for the We Are Developers conference, I decided to record a video talking about why “common sense” can be dangerous in software engineering. I share some real-world examples—like assumptions in flight tracking systems and the idea that names are immutable fields—to show how these seemingly logical assumptions can make your software break functionality or not be useful to the intended user in unexpected ways.
With AI becoming more embedded in our workflows, it’s easier than ever to build on top of ideas that seem right but might actually be incorrect, or worse perpetuating bias.
This vlog was inspired by this article, which was inspired by this article.
Share your own stories of assumptions you had to question down below. What did you think made total sense, but turns out was completely wrong?