Highly resilient systems tend to look makeshift and dilapidated. Everyone wonders how they work at all. Many long-running teams and bureaucracies fall into this category. They clearly demonstrate local brokenness, frustrating and befuddling us. Yet globally, they keep on chugging. They resist our desire to improve them. Our best efforts are but a small bump as they continue down their path, unaffected.
The FLUX Review
The patina proves that a thing has stood the test of time. It's almost a proof of value. We need to learn to appreciate this feature in things—and people!—more.