While I love doing bottom-up programming for my own projects or with a small team, I think there is something to be said for many elements of the top-down appro

While I love doing bottom-up programming for my own projects or with a small team, I think there is something to be said for many elements of the top-down approach. It is often wasteful and overbearing in its process, but when engineering large systems, having a general consensus on modelling (UML being the most common form) and code structure does have its payoffs. Not all team members are equals in their passion for writing code, their interest in the current project, or their general competency. If you have to write code for the lowest common denominator - and I don't mean this in any deprecatory sense - clarity and consistency are tangible benefits. A clear methodology also provides both a shield to the developers and a benefit for those involved in the project but not directly working on the code.