Learning Test-Driven Development

Chapter 14. Retrospective

Retrospectives can be a powerful catalyst for change. A major transformation can start from a single retrospective.

Esther Derby and Diana Larsen, Agile Retrospectives—Making Good Teams Great (Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2006)

We have finished all the features on our list. Here’s the cumulative list, lightly edited for clarity:

5 USD × 2 = 10 USD

10 EUR × 2 = 20 EUR

4002 KRW / 4 = 1000.5 KRW

5 USD + 10 USD = 15 USD

5 USD + 10 EUR = 17 USD

1 USD + 1100 KRW = 2200 KRW

Remove redundant tests

Separate test code from production code

Improve the organization of our tests

Determine exchange rate based on the currencies involved

Improve error handling when exchange rates are unspecified

Improve the implementation of exchange rates

Allow exchange rates to be modified

Continuously integrate our code

Does the act of crossing out every line in the list mean we’re done? Decidedly not! For one thing, change is the only constant in software. Even if we decide to not touch anything in our code because it is fit for our purposes, the things surrounding our code are bound to change over time. During the time it took to write this book, the following things changed in the ecosystem:

1. Go v1.17 was released.

2. Node.js v16 was released.

3. Python versions 3.9 and 3.10 were released.

4. New versions of the GitHub Actions setup-node and setup-python were released.

5. And significantly, vaccines for COVID-19 were released and approved, changing yet again ...