AntiPatterns
SHEET 01 · REVISED EDITION IN PREPARATION
Blueprints for
Software Failure
This site is about AntiPatterns: the same software failures, showing up on
hundreds of real projects. Each one gets a name, a scale, a root cause. And a
refactored solution before the case is closed.
SHEET 02 · THREE VIEWPOINTS
Development
Situations the programmer meets while solving programming problems —
the Blob, Lava Flow, Cut-and-Paste Programming.
Architecture
Common problems in system structure — where the most serious
unresolved failures live. Vendor Lock-In, Stovepipe Systems.
Management
Problems and solutions rooted in the organization, not the code —
Death by Planning, Mushroom Management.
Featured: Lava Flow
DEVELOPMENT VIEWPOINT
The Lava Flow of obsolete technologies and forgotten extensions leaves hardened
globules of dead code in its wake.
Undocumented, unowned code accretes the way lava cools — in place, and for
good. "I don't know what that class is for, it was written before I got here."
Specification
Also Known As
Dead Code
Dead Code
Root Causes
Avarice · Greed · Sloth
Avarice · Greed · Sloth
Refactored Solution
Architectural Configuration Management
Architectural Configuration Management
SITE NOTICE · POSTED BY THE AUTHOR
"I would rather a working engineer recognize Lava Flow at 11 p.m. than that a
copy sit unsold. I do not treat informal sharing among people who cannot pay as
the enemy of the work. I do not authorize anonymous full-text hosts, scraped
corpora, or commercial resellers."
— Hays W. "Skip" McCormick III, Coauthor · read the full note
SHEET 03 · THE FULL LITERARY FORM
© Copyright 2017–2026 William Brown, Raphael Malveau, Hays McCormick, Thomas Mowbray, and Scott W. Thomas. All rights reserved.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact [Web Master].
Last updated: September 12, 2026
View the 1999 site — Nostalgia ↗
For problems or questions regarding this web contact [Web Master].
Last updated: September 12, 2026