Of course it doesn't!!! The only way to ensure that an application is scalable and code is reusable is to include technical design as part of the Software Development Life Cylce.
Frequent code releases and end user feedback are key to a successful deployment - an iterative approach is the only way to go in my opinion - but this does not mean throw the technical design phase out the door.
This results in applications that are not scalable, code that is not reusable and much more poorly written code to maintain. Forget about ever meeting your SLAs.
Also - when the business is too busy to meet with the team to discuss the requirements - they don't deserve a solution - they should just write the queries directly against the database.
I cannot work for an organization lacking technical leadership; the leader needs to have a backbone, needs to stand up for the team and also needs to understand application development enough to review the code and provide guidance to the team (before 7 years of poorly written applications are deployed to the organization).
Of course the customers are the reason that there is a team - delivering and meeting the requirements are on the top of the list - but the business needs to contribute to this process in order for the project to be successful.
THIS IS AN OLD POST THAT I NEVER PUBLISHED - I am not referring to my current job and project.
