Refactoring, Architecture, and Yagni

Refactoring has profoundly changed how people think about software architecture.

🌳 Old Mindset

Software design & architecture should be worked on and mostly completed before writing code.
Once code is written, its architecture is fixed and can only decay due to carelessness.

Refactoring allows us to significantly alter the architecture of software that's been running in production for years.
Finishing Architecture before coding assumes the requirements for the software can be understood early on. Experience shows that this is usually an unachievable goal.
People only understand what is needed from software once they have a chance to use it.
As our understanding of user needs changes, we use refactoring to adapt the architecture to those new demands rather than speculate on what might be needed upfront.
YAGNI: Simple, incremental design
- Doesn't mean architectural thinking disappears or we neglect upfront thinking.
- Preparatory thinking can still be valuable and save time.
The balance has shifted to dealing with issues later when we understand them better.
- See Also: Lean Software Development - Decide as late as possible

Last updated 2 years ago