The Great Wall of China

"A short allegory that examines ambition, bureaucracy, and the human desire for grand achievement through the lens of an enormous construction project." Kafka’s parable is a mirror for the modern designer: grand visions often falter in the trenches of disjointed execution. It speaks to the friction between strategic ambition and real-world constraints—hierarchies, silos, and misaligned incentives. For UX designers, it’s a cautionary tale about forgetting the user and the worker amid lofty goals. It prompts reflection on power, purpose, and how systemic forces shape design outcomes. Read it to stay grounded, human-centred, and skeptical of the myth of perfect systems.