Not even Google

From the Google code blog, emphasis mine:

In 2005 we launched Google Code to provide a home for our developer and open source programs. Two years, dozens of new products and new programs, and one major redesign later, Google Code is bigger and more dynamic than ever.

Two years operating and they’ve redesigned it once already.

I don’t point this out to embarrass Google but to show that redesigns are necessary from time to time. No one is omniscient, not even Google. As they better understand their mission, direction, operations, or issues, they find that what they had designed is no longer sufficient. And it’s not to be shoehorned or just endured, but fixed. Redesigned if need be.

The decision to redesign can be agonizing; the time required painful; the expense daunting. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly. It’s tempting to blame yourself, saying if only I’d have seen a little further into the future. But we’re finite beings: we don’t stand a chance. There’s no shame in that.

In fact, I think one predictor of a project’s success is how willing people are to dive in and fix things instead of trying to live with real problems.

It might take all the courage you can muster to bring it up, but you owe it to yourself and your project to give your honest assessment.