Modern Software Engineering: Doing What Works to Build Better Software Faster

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Working Iteratively

Iteration is defined as “a procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result.”¹

Fundamentally, iteration is a procedure that drives learning. Iteration allows us to learn, react, and adapt to what we have learned. Without iteration, and the closely related activity of collecting feedback, there is no opportunity to learn on an ongoing basis. Fundamentally, iteration allows us to make mistakes and to correct them, or make advances and enhance them.

This definition also reminds us that iteration allows us to progressively approach some goal. Its real power is that it allows us to do this even when we don’t really know how to approach our goals. As long as we have ...