Reduce Size Of Check In

Large check-ins increase the probability of conflicts.

Therefore

ReduceSizeOfCheckIn

Related to

CommitEarlyAndOften which gives more guidance on how far to reduce the size of a check-in.

Short and sweet but there it is.

What's nice about this pattern is that it demonstrates how version control systems encourage better factored code by making it even more aggravating to deal with spaghetti.

Not only does it decrease the probability for integration errors and conflicts. It also makes it a lot easier isolating the problem if an error or conflict occurs. -- JonTirsen

The sum total of your changes still amounts to a lot of changes. Therefore, this pattern does not reduce the chances for conflicts. The real value of this pattern, however, is precisely what JonTirsen wrote above -- it makes it easy to find conflicts. This is the only reason I need to adhere and advocate this pattern's practice.