Agile design or emergent design relies heavily on timely refactoring efforts that aim to improve existing design. Yet often, when the code base grows or when someone else's code is handed over to us, there is a reluctance to refactor existing code - despite an obvious design smell. While the reasons to avoid refactoring may be well-grounded – lack of time, lack of understanding or fear of breaking it – in the long term, delaying code refactoring makes the code rot further. And, as a result, technical debt continues to pile up.

This session begins by reviewing common design smells, discusses five key features of good code and then discusses a common yet often overlooked design smell in detail – big methods. Using an example of a big method, it proposes a refactoring strategy that will ensure that a refactoring effort does not cause any negative side effects. During the session, participants are walked through a real code refactoring example – step by step.

Though the session focuses on one particular design smell (big methods), the proposed refactoring strategy should apply equally well to other design smells too.