Emergent Design

A yahoo group founded by MichaelFeathers for the continuing discussion of emergent design in software, especially in the context of xp/agile methods.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/emergentdesign

Examples of emergent design hosted here on wiki ...

CanAnArchitectureEmerge -- includes some examples
WyCashIncrementallyAddsDistribution -- an example, maybe

Discussion on (more or less) relevant topics on this Wiki :

OrganicSimplicity -- explores the parallel with a known process of emergent design - evolution
OrganicVsEvolutionary -- has some thought-provoking questions
FoundDesignedDesignoid -- rambles on without making much of a point
ThreePhasesOfDesign -- discusses that design happens before, during, and after writing code

This paper (http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/393/part2/cavallo.html) argues that BigDesignUpFront doesn't work for education, either, and demonstrates an alternative by teaching technology to poor rural Thais.

Interesting paper... the "jazz" metaphor of coordinated improvisation pops up in there at one point.

moved here from TheSourceCodeIsTheDesign

A long time ago I thought I had to have a good design to write good code. So I tried to get my design perfect, before I wrote any code. My design was always imperfect and that reflected in my code. Now I just try to write good code, and find that it has good design.

Could this be because some are a far better coders than designers? Could it be that there are some who are far better designers than coders? To assume that code just flows as ink does from a fountain pen is to ignore the impulses that guide the pen. Code does not flow without ideas, without prior thinking, experiences, planning and focus. In a way designing is saying "what if", whereas coding is saying "here's how". Another way this might be said: "Desigining is an encloser, Coding is a discloser". In the spirit of this page and its title "EmergentDesign" one also sees this dichotomy between what might be and what eventually becomes. -- DonaldNoyes