Fundamental Principles of Good System Design

This article presents dozens of fundamental principles of good system design that should help make a product better. Not surprisingly, many of these same principles will help make a product reusable in a new system and will help reduce redesign costs when requirements change. These principles apply to simple systems and complex systems. These principles come from hardware, software, system, and test design, but they are general and many can be applied in a large variety of fields (even non-engineering fields).