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 (the kind from greek mythology), 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.