Why architects don’t chase perfect designs (and what they do instead)

A few years ago, I spent two weeks polishing a system design that never shipped.

At the time, I thought I was doing the “architect” thing, diagramming every edge case, accounting for every possible failure, comparing five different tech stacks. Every decision was a rabbit hole, and I kept diving in.

In hindsight, I wasn’t doing architecture. I was just stuck, chasing a design that would never feel done, trying to account for problems that hadn’t happened yet.
The irony? The project changed direction. My design, perfect or not, never mattered.

What I learned is simple: architects aren’t expected to be perfect; they’re expected to move things forward.

💡 The Myth of the Perfect Design

There’s this common belief, even among experienced developers, that the job of an architect is to come up with the best design. The one that handles everything. No regrets, no edge cases missed.