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Kent Beck

What Kent Beck thinks about design

@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.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Kent Beck on design. See everyone on design

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

4 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingAn outside expert's understanding of somebody else's problem is bounded, because they do not have to live with the design after they leave.

    semiconductors

    Their wordsYour understanding of somebody else's problem is bounded because you're not in the middle of it. You don't have the same skin in the game. If you're not semiconductor test engineer, you don't have as much skin in the game as somebody who is because they're going to have to be using this interface for a long time after you're gone.

    ↗How Kent Beck shapes the software engineering industryyoutube.com 6th of 28 in this recording

  3. Our readingMoving the computation to where the data lives is the fundamental design move in object-oriented programming, and it got lost in the noise.

    Their wordsSo a a big challenge in object-oriented programming is dividing the responsibilities because you're moving the computation to where the data is. Saying, "Well, this object does this and that object does that is a really critical decision because you want to you want the computation near to the data so that there's less coupling between them." which is a lesson that I I think uh kind of got lost in the noise. That's the fundamental design move in ob in designing object-oriented programs and I I think I stand behind that.

    ↗How Kent Beck shapes the software engineering industryyoutube.com 7th of 28 in this recording

  4. 3 months earlier

  5. Our readingFor twenty-five years the senior people had the answers to hand, and what has changed is that at this moment nobody knows the answer to anything.

    Their wordsAnd one of the things I noticed is for 25 years we've kind of had the answers. Somebody comes to us and says we have too many bugs or like, all right, well, here's how you write tests. Oh, I can't write tests. Well, here's how you design so you can write tests. It's just kind of press play uh on the recorder. And the thing that's changed is at this moment nobody knows the answers to anything.

    ↗Martin Fowler & Kent Beck: Frameworks for reinventing software, again and againyoutube.com 1st of 20 in this recording

  7. Our readingSlow models are better company than fast ones, because the minutes an agent spends working are the minutes two humans get to talk about the design.

    Their wordsBut my my experience pairing with a two humans and a genie or multiple genies has been very positive. And the fact that they're kind of slow is really nice. So, every time the models come out and they're faster, I'm like, "Oh, there's less time to talk."

    ↗Martin Fowler & Kent Beck: Frameworks for reinventing software, again and againyoutube.com 18th of 20 in this recording