> The point of methodologies like TDD is they force people to follow the best practices even when it's easier not to simply by mandating a standard process. I

> The point of methodologies like TDD is they force people to follow the best practices even when it's easier not to simply by mandating a standard process. I don't disagree with that, and I don't think the authour disagrees with that. It's when the mandated process interferes with working in the actual world. A better test-pipeline in the article's example might be, "We don't merge without full test coverage of changes" rather than "We must have a test before we've explored how a spec should look". If the standard makes the real world overly difficult, then it will cause people to try and cut corners. It makes the developer seek to do the wrong thing. There's nothing inherently wrong with TDD or a bunch of other processes. There is a problem if you're pushing yourself into a corner where you find yourself fighting the process rather than solving the task that needs solving.