Re: Successfully introducing TDD

On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 12:14:48 AM, Kay A. Pentecost wrote:

>> > Does anyone have any stories/suggestions about introducing TDD in the team 
>> where one is
>> > just a member of the team?
>> 
>> What's the objective? What would you get if you could introduce TDD?

> Robust code?  A sense of satisfaction?  Less Fear, more Courage?

> A chance to rule the world?

If we want to program using TDD because it gets our code done better and
faster, then I recommend Just Do It (tm).

If we want some one other person to learn TDD, then I'd want to explore
further who that person is, what our relationship with them is, and -- most
of all -- why we want them to change their behavior.

If we want the whole group to do TDD, I'd have similar questions, only more
so.

I've often gotten excited about some new idea, and have tried in lots of
different ways to influence other people to get on board with the idea.
I've been most effective, I think, when

  - The "other people" were actually interested in improving
  - I could demonstrate real benefits from the idea
  - The other people saw a need for those benefits
  - I could readily show how to do the idea
  - The other people found the idea credible and easy to try

Dale Carnegie says "Arouse in the other person an eager want." Easier said
than done, says I, and judging from the phrasing it wasn't that easy to
say. ;->

When I go around trying to induce other people to do things, sometimes I am
not clear on why I'm doing it. I'm "trying to help". That's cool. But are
the other folks looking for help, and what kind of help are they looking
for? That turns out to be more important than whatever my idea was.

Usually, I'm looking for fun. Making things, and making things better, can
be fun. So when I set out to think about getting people to do TDD, I'd
probably be wanting fun.

Other folks might want something else. They might want fewer defects, or
faster delivery, or -- well, they might want anything. What they want
influences my suggestion. Well, it /should/ influence my suggestion. All
too often, in my case, it does not. So I'm trying to train myself to find
out what the other folks want.

Ron Jeffries
www.XProgramming.com
One test is worth a thousand expert opinions.
  -- Bill Nye (The Science Guy)


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