This talk uses the real-life experience of the Horde project to explore: how a project can grow software iteratively; when to reject features; how to throw out only what you have to; the dangers of both under- and over-design; and other software engineering topics in the context of web applications.

The Horde project started when a small student organization needed a webmail application, and a quick PHP IMAP interface was created to fill the need. Through accumulation, evolution, and revolution, this initial hack grew into the Horde Project, a collection of applications and documented libraries that follows recognized software engineering principles.

Presenters include the Horde project core system architect and project leader, and system administrator.