What Kent Beck thinks about ambition

@kent-beck · 38 positions · On ppll ↗

Creator of extreme programming and test-driven development, an original signatory of the Agile Manifesto, and the author of Test-Driven Development: By Example and Tidy First?

Kent Beck did not write this page.

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All 38software quality 6coding agents 5design 4AI and jobs 3AI and human skill 2ambition 1code generation 1empathy 1energy 1

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Only Kent Beck on ambition. See everyone on ambition

1 dated position, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Kent Beck has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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1. 1 Jul 2026

   Our readingAn engineer who accomplishes every goal they set is sandbagging; hitting about half of them is the sign of someone risking and learning enough.

   Their wordsIf you accomplished everything you set out to accomplish, people, you know, you're sandbagging. you're not trying hard enough. You're not risking enough. You didn't learn anything over the course of the six months.

   ↗How Kent Beck shapes the software engineering industryyoutube.com 19th of 28 in this recording