Let’s talk about a frustrating kind of bug.
You fix one issue,Deploy. Everything looks good. Then something else breaks.
Completely unrelated,Or so it seems.
The problem
The system wasn’t independent. It was tightly coupled.
What was happening?
A small change in one part of the system…Quietly affected another.
• a field update
• a logic change
• a response format tweak
And suddenly:
• another service fails
• a background job breaks
• an API returns incorrect data
From the outside:
It looks like a new bug. But in reality…It’s the same system reacting.
Why this is dangerous
The system becomes fragile.
Fixes create new problems.
Changes become risky.
Deployments feel stressful.
And over time…
Progress slows down.
The solution
Design for separation.
Real systems reduce coupling by:
• defining clear boundaries between components
• using stable API contracts
• avoiding shared hidden dependencies
• versioning changes instead of breaking flows
The goal is simple:
A change in one place should not break another.
Mental model
Think of a house wired incorrectly. Fixing one switch…Turns off lights in another room. Not because the switch is wrong. But because everything is connected badly.
The lesson
Bugs don’t always come from bad code.
Sometimes…
They come from bad connections.
Takeaway
If every fix creates another problem…
Your system isn’t complex.
It’s coupled.
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