Code and Fix - a Common Software Development Process

What is Code and Fix?

When one learns coding, the initial steps involve a lot of experimentation with code writing and debugging. One writes code then finds all the bugs and fixes them. This is a common practice that is used when tackling easy and short problems. Interestingly, throughout time this approach has became a widespread methodology in software development as well.  

Code and Fix (often called Cowboy coding) is considered the simplest software development process and is the default (method) in many cases. It is a cyclic process consisting of two major steps: Coding and Fixing. In this model there is usually no extensive planning (sometimes a very simplistic one), concrete strategy and well-defined design stages. After some initial discussions, teams starts the Coding process. Fixing usually happens along the way so the team can fix the major bugs on the way to continue the process.

Analyzing Code and Fix

Code and Fix might be very convenient for small and short projects. It is often considered a time saver and is a convenient model for low-budget projects. It is very common in software groups, where there are many entry level developers interested in experimentation and observation. Developers sometimes enjoy this procedure because they receive full control over the development process without any formal instructions from the managerial stuff.

It might seem that Code and Fix reduces the time for product development. However, there is a huge risk for client satisfaction and even failure as there is no concrete understanding of requirements. Also, this model won’t work reliably when there is a big engineering team, since there will be constant communication problems. It is extremely risky to utilize Code and Fix for applications that require future changes, since new enhancements and feature updates might cause major architectural issues late in the process as there might be a need to rewrite large parts of the application.

Since it is not designed for mid and large-scale software projects, it can be considered the least effective development methodology in many cases. Software teams often use Code and Fix because of time pressure. When there is an urgent need to create a functional prototype and present it to project stakeholders. Code and Fix shows the immediate outcomes, which makes this model attractive for many engineers.

Closing

Besides being the most primitive software lifecycle model ever created, Code and Fix is extensively used in many real world projects and especially in startup products. However, in general it is usually not considered to be a good practice and there are only a limited amount of cases that one can use Code and Fix for.

When to use Code and Fix:

• Prototypes that don’t need any initial planning.
• Small projects that won’t require any further development.