At the risk of being treated as spam, we’re going to talk about the TDD problem just like I’m trying to do with weight loss.
After three kids and a lot of burnout, I’m about 30 pounds heavier than I want to be. I’m not concerned about this — I’ve been there before. I know what works when trying to lose weight. For me, doing it is the hard part. I know it’ll take a disciplined diet and consistent exercise, every day.
Weight Loss products tout “lose weight fast”, and they try to make it as simple as possible to get you hooked on their ‘system’. 2 shakes and a well-balanced meal is Slimfast’s promise, and TDD’s is Red, Green, Refactor.
The problem with weight loss plans (and
Red, Green, Refactor) is that it over simplifies the problem and
solution, and it doesn’t help you instill the habits you need to have to deliver projects on time and on budget.
Yes, you can take a 3-4 day class to help you learn TDD (I offer that), but without applying those lessons and creating habits on them, and having someone there to help you when you falter, it’s likely you will falter (that’s also why I offer monthly advisory retainers for teams who adopt TDD).
TDD is easy to learn. It’s hard to learn well, and it’s even harder to apply it to your codebase and constraints without help, and just like the two-shakes and a well-balanced meal, learning TDD as “red, green, refactor” oversimplifies the practices and experience needed to make you successful with it.
I offer in-person classes on TDD, customized for your team. I’m also putting together a video course for Test Driven Development for .NET Software project teams. If that interests you, sign up at https://course.doubleyourproductivity.io.