Is Design Dead?

In this blog, I will discuss the article titled "Is Design Dead?" by Martin Fowler (the same author from the last blog) in May 2004.

Design is one of those things programmers (or at least hard core programmers) tend to shy away from. We usually like to jump right into the action not taking into consideration the design, not really thinking of the repercussions of not having a good design. We usually just think that things will fall into its right place, and sometimes we se downside of not implementing design later in the project.

The article primarily shows this point showcasing Extreme Programming as one of the responsible programming methods for not taking priority to design. Extreme Programming’s approach to design is evolutionary, not planned design. Meaning that the design comes about just as the creation of the system is implemented. Many people can see this as good or bad. You save some time by creating the design around the current implementation, rather than planning before hand and letting the design shape the way your are to code the system. This also brings a lot of perks in projects when due dates and resources are scarce, meaning that you can dedicate more energy into the really important things.

But not planning also means that you can suffer later in the project. If you don't plan ahead, sometimes it will mean that you are going to have to implement a lot of changes that will set your project behind. Most people think of design as some boring and unnecessary task, but in reality the ideal design is simple and quick to implement.

In my opinion, the design is one of the most things to take in consideration when developing. But the investment into the design can verify from project to project, mainly depending of the requirements and the desired results.