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Most programmers know the famous rule “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but I will argue against that. Let me tell you why. First written in 1982 by a political science professor and a criminologist, the “broken windows” theory states that “If a factory or office window is broken, passers- by observing it will conclude that no one cares or no one is in charge. In time, a few will begin throwing rocks to break more windows. Soon all the windows will be broken. Small disorders lead to larger ones, and perhaps even to crime.” The simple yet powerful message is: Don’t accept broken windows. This power and simplicity can be adapted to our software coding and design, too (for more on Broken Windows in the Java World read the great article by Joe Xu in JDJ, who inspired me to think about broken windows at all).