eXtreme .NET: Introducing eXtreme Programming Techniques to .NET Developers [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

The Genius Is in the Simplicity

A genius is a person who can take a complex problem and find a very simple solution that solves it. This solution is usually fairly trivial to implement after you know what it is. Most of us take the easy option, however, and create complex solutions to solve our complex problems. We do this for a number of reasons; the two main ones are as follows:

We take on too much at one time.

We look at how a similar complex problem has been solved before and try to copy that solution.

Our egos don''t help in this matter. We want to show off how smart we are at implementing some complicated solution. We want to justify that we should be paid more and promoted. We don''t feel comfortable going to our boss and saying, "That problem was solved in five lines of code, but it took me the whole of the past three days to write those five lines."

Big, Complex Solutions

The trouble with designing these big, complex solutions is that we often then get stuck when trying to actually implement them. They are just too hard and have too many points of failure. These solutions end up becoming the bane of our existence. We have to maintain them and fix bugs in them. Sure, we can be good citizens and use design patterns and well-documented architectures. Ultimately, however, we end up, time and time again, juggling big issues while trying to get a new piece of functionality into the system.

Among the XP practices are some techniques that will help us reduce the complexity of the problem.

The Genius Function

Ideally, we should find some way that we can all be geniuses. If we are all geniuses, we can always create simple solutions to all of our problems. Something we all know is that it is easy to create simple solutions to solve simple problems. So to become a genius, all we need to do is break down all of our problems into lots of smaller problems that are easy to solve.

Any problem that I estimate to take longer than four hours to solve is too big for me to feel comfortable with. I want to accomplish at least one thing in a day; if I accomplish more than that, I feel even better. This is a personal decision, but most people I have worked with aim for four hours or less. I have never worked with anyone^[1] who was comfortable with tasks that lasted more than six hours. If I get a task that I estimate will take longer than my maximum four-hour period, I break it down into several smaller tasks. If any of those tasks will take longer than four hours, I break those down again. Something that I have found interesting is that the most effective developers I know break down the majority of their tasks so that they require less than an hour to complete.

Example of Problem Breakdown

Let''s see how this Chapter 1 was the whole team. Here is an example where having the customer as part of the team can make a difference. If you cannot get a customer to be present during a task breakdown session, try to get him or her on the phone or instant messenger. Failing that, try your manger or other developers. At least they may spot some mistakes or incorrect assumptions you have made before you actually commit them to code. You should e-mail your customer the results from each task breakdown session so that they can review them and change their minds or reset the direction.

We return to this scenario later on in this book to write code for some of these tasks.