# Software Design: Tidy First? Software design is an exercise in human relationships. So are all the other techniques we use to develop software. How can we geeks get better at technique as one way of getting better at relationships? This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## When to Reject Change in Software Development: Shannon's Demon and Volatility DevFeed: [When to Reject Change in Software Development: Shannon's Demon and Volatility]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-09-02T13:29:36Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [Development](), [Software Engineering](), [Programming]() Tags: [change](), [product-development](), [software-development]() ### AI overview The article uses Shannon's Demon--a strategy that repeatedly rebalances between a stable asset and a volatile one--to explain how software development can create value by managing volatility. It discusses the exception to always embracing change and applies the metaphor to software product development. ### Source excerpt Volatility, Shannon's Demon, & Free Money ## How Do You Know That? DevFeed: [How Do You Know That?]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-07-22T14:10:06Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [AI Agent](), [engineering-culture](), [coding]() Tags: [agent](), [ai-agent](), [coding](), [engineering]() ### AI overview A podcast conversation with Beth Andres-Beck about software engineering accountability, why teams may fail to write tests, how people learn to solve difficult problems, and what it means for an AI agent to lack its own drive. ### Source excerpt Stream the latest episode ## The Beginnings of an Idea: XP is Long Volatility DevFeed: [The Beginnings of an Idea: XP is Long Volatility]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-07-14T13:58:56Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [Software Engineering](), [Development](), [Programming](), [Large Language Model]() Tags: [development](), [ideas](), [llms](), [programming](), [software-development]() ### AI overview Kent Beck introduces the idea of XP as "long volatility," connecting it to long-baked ideas and his efforts to find constructive ways to describe the tension between adding software features and improving structure. He also outlines how he develops and explains ideas such as 3X and uses analogies involving LLMs. ### Source excerpt What does this mean? ## How Software Development Is Changing from Programming to Air Traffic Control DevFeed: [How Software Development Is Changing from Programming to Air Traffic Control]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-07-01T14:25:26Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [systems](), [Software](), [proof of work](), [Programming]() Tags: [audio](), [compute](), [programming](), [proof-of-work](), [software](), [sponsored](), [systems]() ### AI overview Keith Adams and Kent discuss how a changing software-building playbook could affect the economics of technology and the work of programming, including compute, Jevons paradox, and software as "proof of work." ### Source excerpt Keith Adams has spent his career at the systems layer, with nine years at VMware, the founding of Facebook's HHVM team, and a run as chief architect at Slack. ## YAGNI Is About the Cost of Speculative Structure, Not Code DevFeed: [YAGNI Is About the Cost of Speculative Structure, Not Code]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-06-25T12:59:56Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [structure](), [Code](), [Optimization]() Tags: [code](), [structure]() ### AI overview The article argues that YAGNI is not primarily about saving the effort or expense of writing code. It is about avoiding speculative structure built before the required feature is understood, because premature structure limits future options and may later need to be worked around or removed. Waiting is presented as a timing decision rather than laziness or a rejection of design. ### Source excerpt If you think YAGNI is about saving effort, cheap generation should retire it. It doesn't. Here's why. ## A Learning System Made of Learning Parts DevFeed: [A Learning System Made of Learning Parts]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-06-17T13:22:28Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [Learning](), [Artificial Intelligence](), [Code]() Tags: [agents](), [ai](), [audio](), [code](), [learning](), [thoughts]() ### AI overview Jessica Kerr discusses how AI is changing programming work, arguing that it divides the programmer's role into code production and more human-centered work such as deciding what to build, verifying that it works, and maintaining a learning system of people, code, and agents. ### Source excerpt Jessica Kerr joins Kent by the fire to argue that AI didn't take the programmer's job, it split it in two. ## Kent Beck and Randy Shoup discuss creativity, distributed systems, and AI DevFeed: [Kent Beck and Randy Shoup discuss creativity, distributed systems, and AI]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-06-03T14:05:11Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [distributed-systems](), [Artificial Intelligence]() Tags: [ai](), [distributed-systems]() ### AI overview Kent Beck and Randy Shoup discuss the motivation to create, the original distributed-systems playbook, AI's potential effects on it, and Jevons paradox as cognition becomes cheaper. ### Source excerpt Randy Shoup set out to be an international lawyer. ## Trust Factory DevFeed: [Trust Factory]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-06-02T13:33:57Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [trust](), [Code](), [Testing](), [CI/CD](), [Continuous Deployment (CD)](), [observability](), [Refactoring]() Tags: [code](), [continuous-deployment](), [continuous-integration](), [observability](), [refactoring](), [testing](), [trust]() ### AI overview This commentary argues that software development practices can function as a "trust factory." It connects programmer testing, pairing, continuous integration, weekly planning, customer involvement, continuous deployment, refactoring, and observability with building trust among developers, customers, and teams. ### Source excerpt "We're accumulating code faster than we are accumulating trust." Sometimes a phrase just hits. ## Genie Lessons from Genie Sessions: Prose as a Programming Language DevFeed: [Genie Lessons from Genie Sessions: Prose as a Programming Language]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-05-26T12:47:53Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [Programming language](), [Programming](), [Code](), [AI Agent](), [Claude Code](), [Framework](), [Filesystems]() Tags: [ai-agent](), [claude-code](), [code](), [files](), [framework](), [language](), [programming](), [programming-language]() ### AI overview Kent Beck discusses OpenProse with one of its founders and examines how structured English can be used to define programs executed by an AI agent such as Claude Code. The article describes component requirements and guarantees, service-like composition, and file-based pointers for passing large outputs between sub-agents. ### Source excerpt Kent sits down with one of the founders of OpenProse to talk through their method of prose as a programming language. ## Kent Beck and Michael Grinich Discuss AI Adoption and the Future of Software Engineering DevFeed: [Kent Beck and Michael Grinich Discuss AI Adoption and the Future of Software Engineering]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Kent Beck Published: 2026-05-20T14:15:38Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Software Design: Tidy First?]() Topics: [Artificial Intelligence](), [future of software](), [Software Engineering](), [engineering-culture](), [dev-tools]() Tags: [ai](), [developer-tools](), [discussion](), [engineering-leadership](), [future-of-software](), [leadership](), [software-engineering]() ### AI overview Kent Beck and Michael Grinich discuss how AI adoption is affecting the broader technology ecosystem, software costs, competition, and engineering leadership. They also discuss enterprise developer tools and the motivation to build software. ### Source excerpt Michael Grinich & Kent Beck on AI adoption, the future of software engineering, and what enterprise developer tools reveal about where tech is headed.