Collective Wisdom from the Experts 79
- t was a fun bit of extra stuff, and the programmer wanted to write it. I
(Hint: Write code because it adds value, not because it amuses you.) - Someone thought that it might be needed in the future, so felt it was best
to code it now. (Hint: That isn’t YAGNI. If you don’t need it right now, don’t
write it right now.) - It didn’t appear to be that big an “extra,” so it was easier to implement it
rather than go back to the customer to see whether it was really required.
(Hint: It always takes longer to write and to maintain extra code. And the
customer is actually quite approachable. A small, extra bit of code snow-
balls over time into a large piece of work that needs maintenance.) - The programmer invented extra requirements that were neither docu-
mented nor discussed in order to justify the extra feature. The requirement
was actually bogus. (Hint: Programmers do not set system requirements; the
customer does.)
What are you working on right now? Is it all needed?