Feature Driven Development (FDD)

What is Feature Driven Development (FDD)?

Feature Driven Development, or FDD, is like building a LEGO castle! Think of every LEGO brick as a “feature” or a small thing your software can do. In FDD, instead of building the whole castle at once, you build it brick by brick or feature by feature. You could start by building a tower, a bridge, a gate, and so on until you have a complete castle.

Benefits and Downsides of FDD

Benefits

• Small Parts are Easier: Just like building a castle one brick at a time, FDD allows us to work on small pieces one at a time. This is easier and more clear.
• Everyone Knows What to Do: Everyone working on the project knows which part of the castle they’re building. This helps to keep everyone focused.
• You Can See Progress: Just like seeing your LEGO castle growing bit by bit, with FDD, you can see the software getting better and better as each feature is added.

Downsides

• It Needs a Good Plan: You need a good plan to build a LEGO castle. The same is true for FDD. The software might turn out better if the plan is good.
• Some Parts are Tricky: Sometimes, two LEGO bricks must fit together just right. But, if they’re not designed to fit, it can be challenging. The same can happen with FDD. If two features don’t work well together, it can cause problems.
• It’s Not Always the Fastest: Building a castle brick by brick can take time, and the same is true for FDD. It might only sometimes be the fastest way to build software.

Further Readings

Just like there are different ways to build a LEGO castle, there are different ways to build software. To learn more about FDD and other ways to build software, you can check out these books:

1. “A Practical Guide to Feature-Driven Development” by Stephen R. Palmer and John M. Felsing. This book can help you understand more about FDD, just like a manual helps you build your LEGO castle.
2. “Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit” by Mary and Tom Poppendieck. This book tells you about other ways of building software, just like there are other ways to build with LEGO.