On project "Winifred" (Cockburn 1998), the lead programmer announced at regular intervals that design was unnecessary and that code simply grew under his fingertips.
As a predictable result, the young programmers working in the room with him also felt it unnecessary to design. The code looked that way, too.
He eventually left and I took his place. To reverse the situation, I arranged for us to design by having conversations at the whiteboard. After some period of doing this, I started getting questions like, "Could you look at the responsibilities (or communication patterns) of these objects?"
By setting an audible tone in the room and making these design discussions legitimate and valued, the programmers started to converse about design together.
We struggle with these discussions on my team. I want to have these discussions, but I have a hard time getting everyone to participate. There are a few vocal members on my team that complain that our efforts to design as a group are unnecessary. I wonder if there are ways to work through this problem without losing team members.
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