Enterprise Architecture principles
9. ‘Good enough’ services
- Last reviewed
- 8 June 2026
- Owner
- Head of Architecture
Recognise that perfection is not always necessary. Strive for services that meet essential requirements without unnecessary features. Prioritise value over perfection, especially in agile and iterative contexts.
Rationale
Balancing pragmatism with quality allows for faster delivery, adaptability and maximises taxpayer value, whilst minimising delivery costs and allowing people to pivot to other delivery.
Applying pareto rule – 20% of functionality delivers 80% of the value.
Implications
Architecture needs to reflect the emergent nature of agile delivery and therefore do ‘just enough’ architecture to enable delivery. This means longer term architecture should still be done, but at an appropriate level to adapt, as detail emerges through delivery.
Avoid 'gilding the lily' or over-engineering - focus on critical features and iterate based on feedback. Measure the value for money of each feature, including cost of delivery resources over a realistic lifetime of the service before adding to backlog. Stop when the service reaches ‘good enough’.
Evaluate the cost saving of COTS options with ‘good-enough’ functionality against bespoke delivery.
Ensure compliance with legislative, accessibility and security standards.
Have a ‘definition of done’ - check regularly whether this criteria has been met.