Rigidity
Rigidity in software development refers to the difficulty of making changes to a system due to tight coupling, poor design, or lack of modularity, often leading to high maintenance costs and reduced agility. It is a key anti-pattern that hinders code evolution and scalability, commonly associated with legacy systems or poorly architected applications. Understanding rigidity helps developers identify and refactor problematic code to improve flexibility and maintainability.
Developers should learn about rigidity to avoid creating systems that become hard to modify, which is crucial in agile environments where requirements frequently change. It is particularly important when working on large-scale projects, legacy codebases, or when aiming to reduce technical debt, as addressing rigidity early can prevent costly rewrites and improve team productivity. This concept is often discussed in the context of software design principles like SOLID and refactoring techniques.