Software Design: Tidy First?

Genie: Death of the Iron Triangle?

Faster/cheaper/sooner & less?

Kent Beck's avatar
Kent Beck
Mar 02, 2026
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“Better, sooner, cheaper, your choice of any two”—while there are situations where this old chestnut fits, it doesn’t fit in software development.

Faster, cheaper, & sooner are all connected

That was one of the insights behind XP—fix quality at “high”, let scope vary, & you’ll end up with sooner & cheaper. Seems like magic to break the Iron Triangle, but it’s not.

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