Ripple effects: inclusive design and technical debt

Knitters famously say: don’t bind off at night! Also: don’t steek while drunk (drinking afterward, however, is permissible). Making your work great is as much about good processes as it is about having a good product design or pattern.

As a knitter, I like to think of both inclusive design and technical debt as adding/dropping a stitch. Visually, it’s easy to see that adding/removing just a few stitches here and there can significantly change the shape of a work.

One extra stitch over a couple of rows:

• is really a pain to have to go back and fix six rows later

• can totally change the shape of the work, resulting in a thumb-hole for a mitten (for example).

My MO of “make one thing better”/M1+ is really about being intentional. Everyone drops a stitch now and then. But fixing it right away is much easier and cheaper. Even better, designing your process so you minimize dropped stitches (don’t knit when you’re tired, or drunk) and stay on track means less ripping back.