It was back in ‘97 that these presenters first opined that: while much attention had been focused on high-level software architectural patterns, what is, in effect, the de-facto standard software architecture had seldom been discussed: the Big Ball of Mud.

Somewhat to our astonishment, since then, no one has ever undertaken to dispute this premise.

A Ball of Mud is, of course, a haphazardly structured, sprawling, sloppy, duct-tape and bailing wire, spaghetti code jungle.

Is Agility’s utilitarian focus on process rather than design its secret weapon, or its Achilles heel?