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XP's Approach to Designing for Change
publish date: 2026/06/04 05:56:9.698549 UTC
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Traditional software engineering advocates designing for change — anticipating future changes and designing the system to accommodate them easily. What is XP's position on this?
Correct Answer
XP has discarded this principle — designing for change is often wasted effort because anticipated changes often never materialise and completely different changes may be requested; XP accepts that changes will happen and reorganises the software when they actually occur
Explanation
XP has discarded the principle of designing for change on the basis that designing for change is often wasted effort. It isn't worth adding generality to a program to cope with change — the changes anticipated often never materialise and completely different changes may actually be requested. Therefore, XP accepts that changes will happen and reorganises the software when those changes actually occur.
Reference
Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition