3.9/5
Goodreads (companion book)
1,151 ratings
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Should I Use Software Design: Tidy First? | Kent Beck | Substack?
Software design is an exercise in human relationships. So are all the other techniques we use to develop software.
Worth it
Worth itBuy if you write code weekly and want ongoing design thinking from the creator of Extreme Programming — $70/yr is cheap for that caliber.
$70/yr essays on software design from Kent Beck. Great for working engineers; just buy the book otherwise.
Confidence: Medium
$70/yr
Annual price
third-party source, Aug 2024
123,500+
Subscribers
across 195 countries
~100 pages
Companion book length
short read, lots of white space
Value for money
4
Deep essays from a legend, only $70/yr
Ease of use
4
Standard Substack email and app reading
Feature depth
3
Essays only — no tools, community, or courses
Pros
- Kent Beck created Extreme Programming, JUnit, and TDD — elite credibility.⁸
- Reviewers praise the writing as concise and practical — 'a pure joy.'⁴
- 123,500+ subscribers across 195 countries.10
- Explicitly aimed at individual developers wanting clean-code practices.⁹
- Companion book delivers 'deep insights' in ~100 pages.⁵
Cons
Gotchas
Best for
- Working software engineers
- Readers who liked the Tidy First? book
- Tech leads coaching design habits
- TDD/XP practitioners
Not for
- Non-coders — it's essays for engineers, not a manager's process playbook
- Devs who want the ideas once — buy the one-time book instead
- Teams shopping for actual software — this is prose, not a tool
- Anyone needing support, SLAs, or security reviews — none exist
Pricing
Paid subscription
$70/yr
- Ongoing essays on software design
- Sequel series to the Tidy First? book
Security
No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
What users say
Public reader reviews cover the companion book and are strongly positive on clarity and insight.
“The author, Kent Beck, proves that it's possible to write about software design in a concise and practical style. Reading it was a pure joy,”
“It is a short little book, only about 100 pages (and lots of white space on them), but it contains some deep insights about software development”
“Tidy First? by Kent Beck captures the spirit of Ousterhout's A Philosophy of Software Design while also recognizing the inherent tensions”
Alternatives
Compare Software Design: Tidy First? | Kent Beck | Substack with each alternative.
Tidy First? (book)
One-time purchase covers the core tidyings; cheaper than subscribing.
Free book notes (Lethain, Warne)
Detailed summaries cover key ideas for free.
Software Design: Tidy First? | Kent Beck | Substack vs Free book notes (Lethain, Warne)A Philosophy of Software Design (Ousterhout)
Similar design philosophy in book form, one-time cost.
Software Design: Tidy First? | Kent Beck | Substack vs A Philosophy of Software Design (Ousterhout)Pragmatic Engineer newsletter
Broader engineering-industry coverage, $150/yr — pick one.
Software Design: Tidy First? | Kent Beck | Substack vs Pragmatic Engineer newsletterFull analysis
Based on ~15 public sources; most reviews cover the companion book, not the newsletter itself.
Sources
- Software Design: Tidy First? | Kent Beck | Substacknewsletter.kentbeck.comofficial
- Security pagenewsletter.kentbeck.comsecurity
- Software I Pay For (pricing)drewlee.comnews
- Tidy First? (book review)kalabro.techreview
- Tidy First? - Henrik Warne's bloghenrikwarne.comreview
- Notes on Tidy First? | Irrational Exuberancelethain.comreview
- Book Review: Tidy First?hamvocke.comreview
- Tidy First? - Goodreadsgoodreads.comreview
- My Take on Kent Beck's Tidy First?itnext.ioreview
- YesPress profile (subscriber count)yespress.ionews
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