Working Solo On Small Projects: Cowboy Coding The Way To Go? [closed]

Question

I am a big advocate of agile methods when working on teams and/or large projects.

However, I find that for smaller projects, when working solo, I usually start the project writing unit tests, documenting extensively, refactoring. As time wears on, I stop because I feel like I'm wasting time. I find that cowboy coding with an agile spin (testing often, writing human readable code) often works extremely well for me on small, solo projects that I don't expect others to have to work with.

Do other people share my sentiment? Or do you think that one should never stick to their guns (get it? cowboys)?

So the real question: Are there any agile methodologies that are particularly tailored to a solo project? (other than my "agile cowboy" method above)

Answer 1

Agile is a philosophy, not a prescription. You use the pieces that fit your development style, your project, and your business needs.

I think your "test often, write human-readable code" proposal is a perfectly suitable approach for making good software on a solo team for small projects.