Fear of Changing Code
A common question on the TDD and XP mailing lists is how to get managers to approve refactoring and testing. The standard response is to ask in return why programmers need permission to write code that doesn't suck. The problem is that it is hard to know how to manage software development in a condition of rising Technical Debt . I was a programmer a long time before doing any management. I had to learn to manage my unit of work, to do things people wanted to have done, etc. There is a certain amount of professional discipline necessary to be a good employee-programmer. I had a tendency to do X (which was required) and throw in some Y and Z. Where Y and Z were simplifications along the path to doing X, it's all good. This shouldn't need permission (one would hope) but what about when they were solving miscellaneous potential problems on the side? What if they scratched an itch? Under the reign of SAS70 interpretations and ISO 900x dreams and basic risk management, I...