The Two Hats

When you use refactoring to develop software, you divide your time between two distinct activities: adding function and refactoring. When you add function, you shouldn't be changing existing code; you are just adding new capabilities. You can measure your progress by adding tests and getting the tests to work. When you refactor, you make a point of not adding function; you only restructure the code. You don't add any tests (unless you find a case you missed earlier); you only restructure the code. You don't add any tests (unless you find a case you missed earlier); you only change tests when you absolutely need to in order to cope with a change in an interface.

As you develop software, you probably find yourself swapping hats frequently. You start by trying to add a new function, and you realize this would be much easier if the code were structured differently. So you swap hats and refactor for a while. Once the code is better structured, you swap hats and add the new function. Once you get the new function working, you realize you coded it in a way that's awkward to understand, so you swap hats again and refactor. All this might take only ten minutes, but during this time you should always be aware of which hat you're wearing.