Pottery Barn Rule

Bob Woodward’s new book Plan of Attack claims that Colin Powell warned President Bush that if he sent troops to Iraq, “you’re going to be owning this place.” That was based on what Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage called the Pottery Barn Rule of “you break it, you own it”. Pottery Barn has taken offense with the analogy and claims that no such rule exists in their stores. That may be true for a large chain like Pottery Barn but when I was a kid I recall going to stores with signs that said that. Stores where my parents would whisper loudly “Don’t touch anything!”

I think Pottery Barn Rule could become a handy term to use in software development. If you check in code that breaks something, including code that you didn’t write, the “Pottery Barn Rule” kicks in. You own the issue until it’s resolved.