We're really coming full circle here, eh? Next thing you now people will start advocating the waterfall method again. More seriously though, it all depends on

We're really coming full circle here, eh? Next thing you now people will start advocating the waterfall method again. More seriously though, it all depends on what you're writing. Sometimes TDD works best, README-driven development (http://tom.preston-werner.com/2010/08/23/readme-driven-development.html http://tom.preston-werner.com/2010/08/23/readme-driven-devel...) is really nice for certain projects, sometimes top-down is a good thing and sometimes just hacking away without having a clue about what you're doing turns out surprisingly well. There's way too much discussion about methodologies and way too little about when they shine.