You Aren't Gonna Need It. Stop right now, eager developer, and ask yourself: > "Is the current and future cost of writing and maintaining the code I'm about to write offset by the future value it will deliver to our users or future maintainers? And what is the likelihood of these future benefits I foresee actually being realised?" Read through some [[Common breaches of YAGNI]] to make sure you're not about to build something you won't need. ## Background on YAGNI >"**You aren't gonna need it**"(**YAGNI**) is a principle of [extreme programming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programming "Extreme programming") (XP) that states a programmer should not add functionality until deemed necessary [^wk1] [^wk1]: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it) ## See also - [[Engineers are probably your biggest cost]] --- tags: #SoftwareEngineering