Re: XP, a Criticism

From: Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) (u.n.c.l.e.b.o.b_at_objectmentor.com)
Date: 11/07/03 

Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 07:41:01 -0600

herwin@theworld.com (Harry Erwin) might (or might not) have written
this on (or about) Fri, 7 Nov 2003 08:30:11 +0000, :

>So we understand the necessary design better. Why not spend the money
>up-front to buy down risk when it's cheaper?

We don't think it *is* cheaper. The reason we don't think it's
cheaper is that up front design cannot be verified except by
implementing it. A big up front design is a series of guesses, each
based upon the last, with no feedback or verification to show that the
guesses are appropriate. In our opinion the cost and risk of such a
structure of guesses is higher than the cost and risk of taking small
steps and verifying each by implementing it.

>Pay me now or pay me later;
>It will cost more later.

To answer one old saw with another: "don't bite off more than you can
chew."

This need not be a debate. The XP style of evolutionary design has
been shown to work well in many different companies and environments.
XP projects consistently report improved predictability, and
drastically improved defect reduction.

Robert C. Martin | "Uncle Bob"
Object Mentor Inc. | unclebob @ objectmentor . com
501 N. Riverside Dr.| Tel: (800) 338-6716
Suite 206 | Fax: (847) 775-8174 | www.objectmentor.com
                    | | www.XProgramming.com
Gurnee, IL, | Training and Mentoring | www.junit.org
60031 | OO, XP, Agile, C++, Java, C# | http://fitnesse.org

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