Beyond Legacy Code

Tell Smaller Lies

The truth is we can’t help but lie to ourselves, and this is actually a good thing. It helps to walk through life with certainty because the truth is that there is no certainty and if we really, truly embrace that as human beings we would never get out of bed in the morning. Survival calls for us to walk around with certainty…but not always.

If we need to tell ourselves lies to do things—and I mean “lies” in the most positive sense of the word—then let’s let those lies be small lies so we won’t suffer the full agony of the truth when it comes out. That’s really what Agile is. We set up horizons that are shorter; we build in smaller pieces so that when we feel we’re off course we know it sooner and we can do something about ...