The Urobouros is an interesting character. It can represent the
cyclic nature of a system; devouring itself and at last
reborn. As the system gains size and complexity, the Urobouros
becomes all that much larger and more ravenous.
We see this often in software. The software takes on features,
growing in complexity and size, until it is no longer
maintainable. It becomes an untamed beast. I know that some
piece of software just popped to the front of your
memory. Containment of the Urobouros (read "complexity") is a
difficult path, with many obstacles and sirens, but is the only path
to success.
This is not unique to software or computers. Here is my favorite
example and illustration, from The Grateful Dead. You can read
about what the beast meant to them
in their newsletter.
This image came from the aforementioned newsletter and was enhanced
by David Ragsdale.