8 Comments
Aug 17, 2022Liked by Kent Beck

I've been trying to figure out how to push for and justify code cleanup at the startup I work at where there's immense pressure to deliver the next thing. There are areas of the codebase where we can all nod our heads and agree that it's difficult to work with and slows down development, but taking the next step to invest in cleanup or encourage engineers to think about tidying first (or even after) so building the next thing is easier has been difficult. I like the idea of price per minutes, it helps with thinking about how to structure the discussion and push on whether we are avoiding delay of tidying because that's what has become the culture versus a concrete risk.

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On of he main goal of tidying is to avoid delays by reducing technical debt. So that it should be, as you said, only with a few exceptions from Tidy First.

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Aug 9, 2022Liked by Kent Beck

Great read, thanks!

This may or may not be a small typo, but just in case:

"When do want to invest that time in software design?"

Maybe there is a "we" missing between "do want"?

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I see tidying as polishing. It's a kind of finishing touch. For the perfectionist, this can take forever. Perfection doesn't exist, but when to stop?

Tidying can only be done on top of the bare minimum. Starting with tidying too early doesn't make sense. Things will still being able to be moved around. Sometimes quite often even. It's like starting dusting on the floor, then the table and at the end on top of the cupboards. At the end, you can do it all over again and it will never end. Definition of silly.

With bare minimum I mean, on top of all the best practices already in place. If you already have high standards, tidying will be much easier. If you think bare minimum is working with a ball of mud, you have a hard time (and a long one too) polishing it.

So, what is your bare minimum and how much of tidying do you expect to need to do on top of that? That should be some starting point.

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