Good Programmers Get Off Their Butts

i agree totally:

coding without planning is just as futile as coding with too much planning

continuous design is important

but that implies there isn’t a fixed target (i.e. cost is dynamic/moving/unknown). how do you convince the ppl who are paying you to essentially write you a blank cheque? if you were in their position, wouldn’t you want to know (upfront) what the cost is ?