"The tests get in the way. Because my design does not have low coupling, I end up with tests that also do not have low coupling. This means that if I change the

"The tests get in the way. Because my design does not have low coupling, I end up with tests that also do not have low coupling. This means that if I change the behavior of how class <x> works, I often have to fix tests for other classes. Because I don’t have low coupling, I need to use mocks or other tests doubles often. Tests are good to the extent that the tests use the code in precisely the same way the real system uses the code. As soon as I introduce mocks, I now have a test that only works as long as that mock faithfully matches the behavior of the real system. If I have lots of mocks – and since I don’t have low coupling, I need lots of mocks – then I’m going to have cases where the behavior does not match. This will either show up as a broken test, or a missed regression." Simply comment them out temporarily? "Design on the fly is a learned skill. If you don’t have the refactoring skills to drive it, it is possible that the design you reach through TDD is going to be worse than if you spent 15 minutes doing up-front design." I don't quite understand how TDD means you skip up-front design.