---
title: On Sour Milk, Simple Systems, and taking Responsibility
date: 2005-09-08T00:02:47Z
modified: 2005-09-08T00:02:47Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/on-sour-milk-simple-systems-and-taking-responsibility/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 337
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2005-09-08T00:02:47Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

[Adrian Trenholm](http://www.trenholm.co.uk/) keeps buying “fresh” milk from Sainsbury which turns out to be sour. How can that be, in this age of pasteurisation, refrigeration, supply chain optimisation, barcodes and sell-by dates?

He [tells the story](http://173drurylane.typepad.com/main/2005/09/sainsburys_need.html) in in the UK retail blog, [173 Drury Lane](http://173drurylane.typepad.com/main/).

It turns out the problem is not so isolated, but here is a Sainsbury spokesperson:

> “It’s extremely rare for something like this to occur. The store sells 120,000 fresh products a week and we have elaborate systems in place for checking that all our products are well within the label dates and that out-dated stock is cleared from our stores every day.”

Adrian then hits on a great point:

> **Why does Sainsbury have an “elaborate system” where surely a simple system would suffice?**

I love that. The argument (or recieved wisdom) that elaborate means better is nonsense.

In IT we hear it about things like [PHP](http://www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/archives/000683.html) all the time. Oh no – what you _really_ want is a more scalable system (in enterprise software that invariably means a more elaborate one). Sometimes however there is an argument for [lesscode](http://lesscode.org/about/), [less software](http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/getting_real_less_mass.php).

Elaboration tend to mask and degare responsibility because you can blame the system if something goes wrong. \[We’ll see a lot of that in the next couple of months\].

Adrian ends:

> I told a member of staff last week that the chicken I wanted to buy was past its sell by date, he replied “you need to speak to Customer Services about that” before going about his business. The chicken, it seems, was in someone else’s section.

Ah yes- finger pointing. You need to jump on that other process. Another part of the elaborate system will sort solve your customer problem.

What is really needed though in many cases is less code, less complex systems, and more individual accountability. That way software will be more effective, milk won’t be curdled and more lives will be saved.