Camels
The article critiques the concept of compromise, arguing that it often leads to suboptimal solutions. It uses the metaphor of a camel being a horse designed by a committee to illustrate how blending different ideas can result in inferior outcomes. The author emphasizes that true solutions require coherence and alignment rather than a mix of conflicting plans.
- ▪Compromise can lead to worse outcomes rather than better ones.
- ▪The metaphor of a camel illustrates how blending different ideas often results in inferior solutions.
- ▪Good solutions are coherent sets of choices, not just a mix of features.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
CamelsPosted May 24, 2026 Updated May 28, 2026 By Christian Engel Y · 10 min readThere’s an old engineering joke that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. It’s unfair to camels, which are superbly adapted animals, but everyone knows what it means the first time they hear it. Someone wanted a bigger water tank. Someone wanted it to survive the desert. Someone wanted to cut costs on the legs. Everybody got a little of what they wanted, and nobody got a horse.I want to defend a stronger claim than the joke. The joke says committees produce ugly results. I think they produce worse results: not less elegant, but actually inferior to either of the positions that went into the room. And the reason is structural, not aesthetic, which means it shows up everywhere.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Christian Engel.
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