Section 13.2. Choosing Where to Start

13.2. Choosing Where to Start

Emily and Don suggested several areas of their system to tackle first, based on a few guidelines that we had indicated. But none of those areas was simple enough for a first step. Then Don suggested late returns: "For example, a customer rents a party tent overnight to be returned by 10 A.M., but doesn't return it until after lunch. The customer gets charged for being late."

The tests that Don had developed many months ago were now out of date. He'd tested through the GUI, and the GUI had changed. "I felt guilty about the tests being dated. But I'd been frustrated after changing the tests several times to match the revised GUI."

Emily agreed that this was a good area to pursue. "There have been ongoing problems in that area. A bug has just been reported, which is still to be dealt with. It looks rather like one that we've already fixed."

She wasn't very happy about her code: "There have been ongoing changes and it's a bit of a mess. And, I think, further changes are likely. Seth has been talking to a rental company that is very interested in RentEz. But that company handles late-return fees rather differently from our existing companies, so they'd need some changes to it."

We decided to proceed with late returns.