Kent Beck
Kent Beck
Kent Beckis an American software engineer and the creator of Extreme Programming, a software development methodology which eschews rigid formal specification for a collaborative and iterative design process. Beck was one of the 17 original signatories of the Agile Manifesto, the founding document for agile software development. Extreme and Agile methods are closely associated with Test Driven Development, of which Beck is perhaps the leading proponent...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
avoid costs design front longer received software spend start takes time upfront wisdom
Received wisdom is that if you spend time up front getting the design right, you avoid costs later. But the longer you spend getting the design right, the more your upfront costs are, and the longer it takes for the software to start earning.
apparent consequences design software
The problem is, in software design, often the consequences of your decisions don't become apparent for years.
design economic improvise model presents quickly rational software
A rational model of software is to design it quickly - the economic pressure to improvise presents an interesting challenge.
change clearly design easy elements manage obviously simple simplify step technical
Design should be easy in the sense that every step should be obviously and clearly identifiable. Simplify elements to make change simple so you can manage the technical risk.
design research lag
Learning research tells us that the time lag from experiment to feedback is critical ...
design listening different
Listening, Testing, Coding, Designing. That's all there is to software. Anyone who tells you different is selling something.
design forever simplicity
How good the design is doesn't matter near as much as whether the design is getting better or worse. If it is getting better, day by day, I can live with it forever. If it is getting worse, I will die.
bars buys cds concert music musician nobody shirts tickets weddings
When Pandora doesn't pay, and bars don't pay, and weddings don't pay, and nobody buys CDs or shirts or concert tickets or lessons, then the musician can't make a living making music.
dress found funny knew people socially stuff technology
We could talk, act, and dress funny. We were excused for socially inappropriate behavior: 'Oh, he's a programmer'. It was all because we knew this technology stuff that other people found completely mystifying.
bunch history listen listeners living longer models music musicians relationship valid
There are musicians who want to make a living making music. There are listeners who want to listen to music. Complicating this relationship is a whole bunch of history: some of the music I want to listen to was made a while ago in a different economy. Some of the models of making a living making music are no longer valid but persist.
ad deliberate marketing power sure time
The marketing of XP is very deliberate and conscious. Part of it is in co-opting the power of the media; I make sure I'm newsworthy from time to time. Part is in co-opting some of my publisher's ad budget.
cd file model music sharing sheet
Sheet music, recording, radio, television, cassettes, CD burners, and file sharing have all invalidated, to some extent, the old model of making a living making music.
believe days deliver partners people price reasonable
People are looking for software development that actually does something useful... People are looking for partners who deliver when promised, and at a reasonable and transparent price. I believe that the days of being able to value price software are numbered.
cycle feeds half regular version
Organizations want small changes in functionality on a more regular basis. An organization like Flickr deploys a new version of its software every half hour. This is a cycle that feeds on itself.