Software Engineering’s #1 Priority

Software engineering's top priority is managing complexity through tools like abstraction, separation of concerns, modularity, and loose coupling. The core argument is that the fundamental measure of quality in software is the ability to change it — everything else (security, performance) is secondary because you can't achieve those without changeability. This means preferring designs that keep options open without overengineering: designing for now, but leaving seams in the code (e.g., abstracting database interactions) so future changes remain possible.