Don't forget the design part of the methodology.
[ Posted by Dan on March 08, 2002 | 0 Comments ]

I was reading thru some blogs just now and found this link at blackbeltjones.com to Joel Spolsky's latest meandering. In it he says...

You have to design things before you implement them.

I hope this isn't a revelation to anyone out there in dotcom land. In my experience, methodologies like XP can make things move more quickly, but more quickly to what? If there's no thought about what you are building, or why, or for whom, then you've failed before you have begun. Also, IMHO, I think the price of change is way more than people think it is, so refactoring should be thought of as a problem, not a solution. To put it another (overly simplistic) way if you don't have the time to do it right the first time, when are you going to have time to right the second time?

 

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