Home > Catalogue > Emperor's New Clothes
Also Known As:
Negative feedback not seen as constructive leads to team members beeing afraid to voice concers. No one wants to point out the obvious, but embarrassing truth about a situation, design, person, etc. Criticism is downplayed, changes postponed or not made at all with "it won't be as bad" attitude. There is a push for idiot-proof process and design and coding standards as testable as possible to avoid criticism. Delayed problems grow, checking aginst standards makes significant changes to design impossible, requirements are unmet, problems missed, decisions left to coders who ignore the design rendering it pointless.
- design flaws detected but not addressed
- problems postponed continuously and growing
- design is ignored
- automatic checks against standards are the only or major part of quality process
- requirements ultimately not met
- major design issues or rework needed discovered too late
| Anti-pattern | Relation |
|---|---|
| Design By Comitte | partial cause |
| Idiot Proof Process | partial cause |
| Intelectual Violence | partial cause (if used in review meetings) |
| Implementation Issue | partial cause |
| The Grand Old Duke Of York | partial cause (roles do not match abilities) |
| Thrown Over The Wall | partial cause (guidelines treated as formal process and followed blindly) |