Agile Development and Evolution
Les Ey has put up an interesting piece on the relationship between software development and evolution (How Complex Information Systems Point to the Existence of God ) and, while I agree with most of what he says, the following caught my attention:
While I was studying Computing, the lecturers would emphasize the importance of a stage in developing computer programs that is called the “Design Phase”, they would emphasize the point that time spent designing a system more than paid for itself when you went to “code” or build the system. I’m yet to hear anyone suggest that I should not worry about designing a system but just go for it and let it evolve.
I’m wondering if agile development is really “just letting software evolve” or whether there is design involved but just during the process. Agile development certainly eschews the need for a “design phase” as such with design occurring continuously throughout the software development process. Is this “evolution” of software or not?
