Clean Noodles

Big picture clarity is where you understand your codebase as a whole… or as close as you can get. You have a simple mental model of the system.

Localized clarity is where individual functions are easy to read. Or where very small areas of code look very clean.

Go for big picture clarity. Design your system so it’s easy to imagine how the data flows through it.

As you add features, adjust the big picture to accommodate new code and keep it simple.

Then if you want, you can drill down and clean smaller stuff up, as long as it doesn’t break the big picture concept.

But if you prioritize localized clarity, you end up with a big bowl of really clean spaghetti noodles.