Interesting Reads - SingletonTheory/SingletonTheory.github.io GitHub Wiki
Martin Fowler
Is Design Dead: http://martinfowler.com/articles/designDead.html
Summary
For many that come briefly into contact with Extreme Programming, it seems that XP calls for the death of software design. Not just is much design activity ridiculed as "Big Up Front Design", but such design techniques as the UML, flexible frameworks, and even patterns are de-emphasized or downright ignored. In fact XP involves a lot of design, but does it in a different way than established software processes. XP has rejuvenated the notion of evolutionary design with practices that allow evolution to become a viable design strategy. It also provides new challenges and skills as designers need to learn how to do a simple design, how to use refactoring to keep a design clean, and how to use patterns in an evolutionary style.
Interesting Bits
Refactoring
Refactoring has a similar effect. People who refactor their code in the disciplined manner suggested by XP find a significant difference in their effectiveness compared to doing looser, more ad-hoc restructuring. That was certainly my experience once Kent had taught me to refactor properly. After all, only such a strong change would have motivated me to write a whole book about it.