“Form follows function” is a catchy phrase and a seductive idea. It implies a lot of things which most of us would like to believe of ourselves. We’d like to believe we understand the function of what we are creating so well we can visualize exactly the form it needs to be. That in turn implies we won’t have to go back and redo any of our work. It also implies we can expect approval from whomever evaluates what we created, whether that’s a supervisor or a customer.
Unfortunately, all of those flattering possibilities are probably not going to happen. It’s likely that whatever is created — by me, by you, by us, by whomever — will not be at its best form on the first iteration. Whatever gets created, it will probably have to be revisited and revised multiple times before it’s usable.
The book The Evolution of Useful Things by Henry Petroski covers this in detail if you are interested. I’ve read “form follows function” as an ideal at which to aim, for most of my life. The Evolution of Useful Things finally cured me of following that dead end. Continuous improvement is the goal.
(I linked to the Computer Gear catalog because that is where I purchased the book. I am not in any way compensated by them for that link.)