Refactoring and then adding functionality can often be faster than simply adding the functionality while adding value to the existing code base. Many good managers, who properly understand software and how it is developed will understand this.
Of course there are managers who are clueless about what software actually is, they are often driven solely by deadlines and may be reluctant to learn more about their subject field. I am talking about the horror story developers I have mentioned earlier in this book. Sometimes, Scrum Masters are also guilty of this, due to the fact they may not be able to relate to the entire software development life cycle.
As Martin Fowler himself put it:
"Of course, many people say they are driven by quality but are more driven by schedule. In these cases I give my more controversial advice: Don't tell!"
Managers who don't properly understand technical processes may be intent on delivering on the basis of how rapidly software can be produced; refactoring can prove to be the most rapid way of helping produce software. It provides an efficient and thorough way to get up to speed with a project and allows us to smooth the process of injecting in new functionality.
We will discuss management and how projects can be effectively managed in the next chapter of this book.