Cowboy coding: Difference between revisions

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'''Cowboy coding''' is [[software development]] where programmers have [[autonomy]] over the development process. This includes control of the project's schedule, languages, algorithms, tools, frameworks and coding style.

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===Lack of release structure===

Lack of [[estimation (project management)|estimation]] or implementation planning might cause a project to be delayed. Sudden deadlines or pushes to release software may encourage the use of [[quick and dirty]] or [[code and fix]] techniques that will require further attention later.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stickyminds.com/sites/default/files/presentation/file/2013/09BSOFR_W7.pdf |title=In Defense of Waterfall: Deconstructing the Agile Manifesto |accessdate=February 1, 2016-02-01}}</ref>

===Inexperienced developers===

Cowboy coding can be common at the hobbyist or student level where developers might initially be unfamiliar with the technologies, such as testing, version control and/or build tools, usually more than just the basic coding a software project requires.

This can result in time required for learning to be underestimated, causing delays in the development process. Inexperience might also lead to disregard of accepted [[Standard Operating Procedure#Information technology industry use|standards]], making the project source difficult to read or causing conflicts between the [[Semantics#Computer science|semantics]] of the language constructs and the result of their output.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stickyminds.com/presentation/stareast-2000-confessions-recovering-coding-cowboy|title=StickyMinds - STAREAST 2000: Confessions of a (Recovering) Coding Cowboy|work=StickyMinds|accessdate=February 2, 2016}}</ref>

===Uncertain design requirements===

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===Incompleteness===

Many software development models, such as [[Extreme Programming]], use an incremental approach which stresses that the software must be releasable at the end of each iteration. Non-managed projects may have few [[unit testing|unit tests]] or working iterations, leaving an incomplete project unusable. As such, agile methodologies have been compared to cowboy coding but agile has formal processes, procedures, measurement, project management and other oversight while cowboy coding has none of this.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.stickyminds.com/sites/default/files/article/file/2013/XUS22546409file1_0.doc |title=Exploring Agile Development | work=Pragmatic Software Newsletter |issue=March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stickyminds.com/better-software-magazine/dont-just-break-software-make-software|title=StickyMinds - Don't Just Break Software. Make Software|work=StickyMinds|accessdate=February 2, 2016}}</ref>

==Advantages==

* Developers maintain a free-form working environment that may encourage experimentation, learning, and free distribution of results.

* It allows developers to cross architectural and/or tiered boundaries to resolve design limitations and defects.

* Since coding can be done during the developer's free time, a hobby project could come to fruition which otherwise wouldn't have.<ref>K, Alex. [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/googles-20-percent-time-in-action.html "Google's '20 percent time' in action"], Official Google Blog, 2006-5-May 18, 2006</ref>

==See also==