Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reuse is one of those concepts that periodically rears up to sing its seductive siren song. Like that in the legend, it is exceedingly attractive, whether in the form of object-orientation, design patterns, or services. Unfortunately, it also shares the quality of tempting the unwary onto the rocks to have their hopes (if not their ships) dashed.

The idea of lowering costs via writing something once, the “right way”, then reusing it everywhere, is a powerful one. The simplicity inherent in it is breathtaking. We even have a saying that illustrates the wisdom of reuse – “don’t reinvent the wheel”. And yet, as James Muren pointed out in a discussion on LinkedIn, we do just that every day. The wheels on rollerblades differ greatly from those on a bus. Each reuses the concept, yet it would be ludicrous to suggest that either could make do with the other’s implementation of that concept. This is not to say that reusable implementations (i.e. code reuse) are not possible, only that they are more tightly constrained than we might imagine at first thought.

Working within a given system, code reuse is merely the Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle in action. The use cases for the shared code are known. Breaking changes can be made with relatively limited consequences given that the clients are under the control of the same team as the shared component(s). Once components move outside of the team, much more in the way of planning and control is necessary and agility becomes more and more constrained.

Reusable code needs to possess a certain level of flexibility in order to be broadly useful. The more widely shared, the more flexible it must be. By the same token, the more widely used the code is, the more stability is required of the interface so as to maintain compatibility across versions. The price of flexibility is technical complexity. The price of stability is overhead and governance – administrative complexity. This administrative complexity not only affects the developing team, but the consuming one also in the form of another dependency to manage.

Last week, Tony DaSilva published a collection of quotes about code reuse from various big names (Steve McConnell, Larry Constantine, etc.), all of which stated the need for governance, planning and control in order to achieve reuse. In the post, he noted: “Planned? Top-down? Upfront? In this age of “agile“, these words border on blasphemy.” If blasphemy, it’s blasphemy with distinguished credentials.

In a blog post (the subject of the LinkedIn discussion I mentioned above) named “The Misuse of Reuse”, Roger Sessions touches on many of the problems noted above. Additionally, he notes security issues, infrastructure overhead, and the potential for a single point of failure that can come from poorly planned reuse. His most important point, however is this (emphasis mine):

Complexity trumps reuse. Reuse is not our goal, it is a possible path to our goal. And more often than not, it isn’t even a path, it is a distraction. Our real goal is not more reusable IT systems, it is simpler IT systems. Simpler systems are cheaper to build, easier to maintain, more secure, and more reliable. That is something you can bank on. Unlike reuse.

While I disagree that simplicity is our goal (value, in my opinion, is the goal; simplicity is just another tool to achieve that value), the highlighted portion is key. Reuse is not an end in itself, merely a technique. Where the technique does not achieve the goal, it should not be used. Rather than naively assuming that code reuse always lowers costs, it must be evaluated taking the costs and risks noted above into account. Reuse should only be pursued where the actual costs are outweighed by the benefits.

Following this to its logical conclusion, two categories emerge as best candidates for code reuse:

• Components with a static feature set that are relatively generic (e.g. Java/.Net Framework classes, 3rd party UI controls)
• Complex, uniform and specific processes, particularly where redundant implementations could be harmful (e.g. pricing services, application integrations)

It’s not an accident that the two examples given for generic components are commercially developed code intended for a wide audience. Designing and developing these types of components is more typical of a software vendor than an in-house development team. Corporate development teams would tend to have better results (subject to a context-specific evaluation) with the second category.

Code reuse, however, is not the only type of reuse available. Participants in the LinkedIn discussion above identified design patterns, models, business rules, requirements, processes and standards as potentially reusable artifacts. Remy Fannader has written extensively about the use of models as reusable artifacts. Two of his posts in particular, “The Cases for Reuse” and “The Economics of Reuse”, provide valuable insight into reuse of models and model elements as well as knowledge reuse across different architectural layers. As the example of the wheel points out, reuse of higher levels of abstraction may be more feasible.

Reuse of a concept as opposed to an implementation may allow you to avoid technical complexity. It definitely allows you to avoid administrative complexity. In an environment where a component’s signature is in flux, it makes little sense to try to reuse a concrete implementation. In this circumstance, DRY at the organizational level may be less of a virtue in that it will impede multiple teams ability to respond to change.

Reuse at a higher level of abstraction also allows for recycling instead of reuse. Breaking the concept into parts and transforming its implementation to fit new or different contexts may well yield better results than attempting to make one size fit all.

It would be a mistake to assume that reuse is either unattainable or completely without merit. The key question is whether the technique yields the value desired. As with any other architecturally significant decision, the most important question to ask yourself is “why”.