Oh yeah, that’s why we design before we code

Joel Spolsky has a new article out, and as usual it’s interesting and fun to read.  But one of the best parts for me was actually in a comment from a reader, who linked back to an old article of Joel’s from 2000.  That one was about writing actual specifications before coding actual software.  Sometimes I use the analogy that if you needed to build a house, you wouldn’t begin by delivering a pile of lumber and start hammering, right?  But that’s how some people build software, and Joel’s article points out why that doesn’t work.  It was a great reminder about why we follow our seven-step process in all our projects, in which Design always comes before Construction.

~Armen