design, consistency, and...

the following text is a quotation from Scott Berkun:

At the heart of any design thinking is a series of trade-offs: speed versus reliability, ease of learning versus expert proficiency, global consistency versus local optimization. As Ron Fein once said, "Design is choosing how you will fail," meaning optimizing for one thing always means failing at another. The key to good design is knowing which characteristics of your Web site or product are the most important, and which ones you are willing to give in on. If you are clear on the goals, success will always come from planning enough time in your schedule to think through the trade-offs of a wide set of alternatives. Consistency is a potential means for success, but not success itself.