Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/what-is-yagni-principle-you-arent-gonna-need-it/
This article is titled “What is YAGNI principle (You Aren’t Gonna Need IT)?” YAGNI is “a principle in software development that suggests developers should only implement features that are necessary for the current requirements and not add any additional functionality that might be needed in the future.” The reasoning for this is that if you add features that might potentially be needed in the future, there will be risk for more bugs, increased complexity, and increased times of development, thus leading to increased cost. The YAGNI principle is similar to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid), which also advocates for simplicity, it encourages developers to avoid complexity when it isn’t necessary. Developers should follow the YAGNI principle if they wish to keep the following costs in mind: the cost of building, delay, carry, and repair. The cost of building refers to the total cost of efforts and resources implemented in the project. Building things that aren’t needed leads to increased costs overall. Cost of delay refers to missed opportunities, if you spend time on unnecessary features, the development of more important ones will inevitably be delayed. Cost of carry refers to the difficulties of having unnecessary complex features. These complexities make it difficult to work on other parts of a software project, require more time, lead to an increased cost, and overall cause harder times moving forward. Lastly, the cost of repair, or technical debt, refers to the costs associated with bugs or mistakes that occur during the development process. YAGNI is important to ensure that the development process is focused, efficient, and cost-effective. YAGNI can be implemented into your code by prioritizing communication between team members. Ensuring that necessary requirements are met, a simple plan is made, ignoring ideas that don’t meet goals or deadlines, and keeping good records of project progress will allow your team to follow the YAGNI principle. YAGNI allows for simplicity, faster development, flexibility, reduced risk, and cost savings by complementing other development principles while prioritizing unnecessary implementations.
I chose this article because I appreciate how geeksforgeeks simplifies topics within the software development community. I don’t recall this principle being explicitly mentioned in class, but we have definitely alluded to it and I thought it’d be beneficial to read about it more, considering that it is in the syllabus. It was interesting to learn that the YAGNI principle complements other software development principles, such as the KISS principle, and compiles them into a unique principle that prioritizes simplicity over complexity and more features. It embodies the idea of “less is more.” This is a great set of guidelines I’ll be sure to follow in industry because it promotes that sometimes less work isn’t a bad thing. Instead of creating a multitude of features, ensuring that the ones that are critical, and required sooner, are being developed, will still get the job done.
From the blog CS@Worcester – Shawn In Tech by Shawn Budzinski and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.