Geoffrey Moores's book "Crossing the chasm" outlines the difficulties faced by a new, disruptive technology, when adoption moves from innovators and visionaries into the mainstream. Test Driven Development is clearly a disruptive technology, that changes the way you approach software design and testing. It hasn't yet been embraced by everyone, but is it just a matter of time? Ten years from now, will a non-TDD practicing developer experience the horror of being labelled a technology adoption 'laggard', and be left working exclusively on dreadfully boring legacy systems?
It could be a smart move to get down to your nearest Coding Dojo and practice TDD on some Code Katas. On the other hand, the thing with disruptive technologies is that even they can become disrupted when something better comes along. What about Property-Based Testing? Approval Testing? Outside-In Development?
In this talk, I'd like to look at the chasm-crossing potential of TDD and some related technologies. My aim is that both you and I will still be able to get a good job in 2024.
