Ever work with code that feels like it’s about to fall apart? That’s often due to design smells, which are signs of poor design that make code harder to work with. Here’s a quick rundown of six big ones: Rigidity, Fragility, Immobility, Viscosity, Needless Complexity, Needless Repetition, and Opacity

1. Rigidity

Rigidity is when code is hard to change. You try to update a small feature, and suddenly you’re changing ten other things just to make it work. This makes the code stiff, leading to slow updates and frustration.

2. Fragility

Fragility means that the code breaks easily. A small change in one part of the codebase suddenly causes errors all over. Fragile code is typically too tightly coupled, meaning different parts rely too much on each other, making even minor updates risky.

3. Immobility

Immobility happens when you can’t easily reuse code in other projects. Maybe you’ve written a method that could be helpful elsewhere, but it relies on so many project-specific details that you can’t transfer it without dragging a ton of dependencies. Immobile code wastes potential and limits flexibility.

4. Viscosity

Viscosity means the code is easier to “quick-fix” than fix the right way. The messy design makes doing things properly so difficult that developers often take shortcuts, creating even more technical debt. Viscous code tempts us to compromise, resulting in even messier code over time.

5. Needless Complexity

Needless complexity is adding extra, unneeded elements to the code. This could be because someone thought, “We might need this someday,” or because they’re solving non-existent problems. Extra complexity doesn’t just add confusion; it makes the code harder to read, test, and debug. Simple solutions are usually best.

6. Needless Repetition

Needless repetition is when you see similar code blocks everywhere instead of consolidating them. When you repeat code instead of centralizing it, it violates the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle. This makes code harder to maintain, as changes need to be made in multiple places instead of just one.

7. Opacity

Opacity is when code is confusing and hard to read. Maybe variable names don’t make sense, logic is overly complex, or comments are missing. Opaque code is like a puzzle, requiring extra time to understand, and slowing down productivity.

Why It Matters

Design smells don’t stop your code from working, but they make it harder to understand, change, and maintain. Ignoring them means the code gets more frustrating to deal with over time. By refactoring to remove these smells, you make the code cleaner, easier to work with, and more enjoyable for everyone on your team. Next time you’re reviewing code, look out for these design smells, your future self will thank you!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Anairdo's WSU Computer Science Blog by anairdoduri and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article by
Jeff Gothelf asks the question “Is Agile finally over?” after 20+ years of
implementation to tech field. He argues that even though Agile’s widespread
adaptation hasn’t got the result that Agile was intended for. Many companies
claimed to be “Agile” as they copy each other, but the implementation of it was
shallow or almost non-existent to make changes according to it. Therefore, he
says that agile does not seems working as companies try to make employee follow
set of rules instead of working in following the basic principles of Agile. He
concluded that organizations need to focus on true organizational agility
rather than rigid framework adoption.

This article
caught my attention while searching through the internet as it criticizes Agile’s
current status in the business world as ideal of agile does not really fit in
reality in organization experience. The vague promises and core ideas are often
overlooked to the ‘wants’ of either customer or the organization. The output is
never about efficient program but a program that works made in short amount
time. In the end, it feels like the organization’s internal culture and goals
must align with the methods it adopts to fully be efficient which does not seem
to work for a lot of groups that ‘follows’ agile. Learning that to me, teamwork
following agile principle is hard from top-down management as they try to
follow rules made by the organization to follow the given framework, that is
why agile is not working for many in my opinion.

This got me to
reflect that to practice agile in the future, that I need to try to make sure
that if the company says they do ‘agile’ format for development, I need to check
with others so that if they want ‘agile’ following company standard or the real
agile that I learned in class. I feel like this way even more because when I work
at a part time job, company wanted to follow xyz because and it was annoying
and required lot of process which contradicted for the speed of work they
wanted us to work on. Therefore, no one really followed by the book or the procedures
were implemented shallow, so it was not effective at all, I think this was the same
case for agile in the long run. It feels like agile manifesto was built for
small teams or companies where they could discuss things multiple times in
small groups not to be used by large companies as it will be always shallow or
just another term to company’s rules to schedule how work is done. Therefore, I
feel like widespread use of agile is dying down unlike what the author says
because no one tries to keep that rule in big companies. 

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/is-agile-over/

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.