A colleague recently asked my advice along the subject of requirements gathering.  Because I have such high regard for my own opinion, I've decided to share with you an excerpt of my incredible insight into the software development industry.

Most of all, you just need to use common sense to make sure you understand to the best of your ability what the problem/need is, what the desired outcome should be, and then design a solution to get you there.  Invariably, all the analysis in the world won’t raise all the right questions.  Some questions won’t become obvious until you actually start working on the solution.  Now that I think about, agile (eXtreme Programming) methodology, taken to the ...uh ...eXtreme, is basically the approach of “I’ll get started on what I think might maybe sorta be the solution now, knowing that I’m going to uncover questions/issues that may require me to completely throw away what I’ve done thus far and start over.”  Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot between analysis paralysis and willy-nilly cowboy coding.  Personally, I kinda like the coding with wild abandon methodology.

In that single stroke of genius, I believe I stumbled upon the next software revolution.  Not just agile development... but Wild Abandon Development.  WAD.  I can see it now...  The books:  "Teach Yourself WAD in 24 Seconds" and "WAD Unleashed!"  WAD will soon become the next big industry buzzword.  Be the first to use it at your office and scoff triumphantly when your co-workers look puzzled.  Testimonials!  "Yeah, our project was going down the tubes until we applied WAD."  Oh, and the speaking engagements!  Adoring fans will call me ... 

"The Father of WAD"