I was having coffee this morning with colleague Ken Collier and we were talking about Test-driven development (TDD) and the trials and tribulations of trying to implement TDD in a development environment. I left Ken and went out for a leisurely bike ride down from the Ponderosa pines in Flagstaff to the Scrub Oak and Juniper 1,500 feet lower and 15 miles out of town (then back up-ugh).

As I was pedaling down hill thinking back on our discussion, it occurred to me that a developer doing TDD was like a triathlete–attempting to master three different, but integrated sports (running, cycling, swimming) (testing, coding, refactoring). There are several great analogies here. Many developers who are great coders, are like excellent cyclists who can’t swim–they have great trouble competing in the TDD triathlon. If you are an expert cyclists, you have Read more …