 Here's another concept for you to - er - disregard completely: Chesterton's Fence. The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood. Per Wikipedia, the principle originated in G. K. Chesterton's 1929 book The Thing:
There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."
It's a useful principle, in many, many areas. In my own field of software design, I see this so often; it's tempting to rewrite old software entirely, routing around all the weird little kludges that have accumulated. Sometimes this makes sense. But each of those kludges is there for a reason, and not understanding those reasons is dangerous.
Oh, and an interesting note; if you Google "Chesterton's Fence", many of the hits will be articles telling you this principle is wrong. Since this principle goes back to 1929, they should explain why it was right then, before explaining why it is wrong now :)
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