Every fool his own tool

Every fool their own tool is the name of a phenomenon when software developers forget to adhere to common software development principles when creating tools to facilitate the software development process itself. The term is normally used in a pejorative sense. Fool's Tools often appear as scripts or executables which are being passed around in the company. Symptoms or examples of this practise are:

• Utility tools with sources not under version control being passed around by email,
• Scripts written in obscure languages not in use in the rest of the company,
• Tools running automated from developer workstations which have become vital for the software development life cycle,
• Untested, not peer reviewed, not (self-)documented utilities,
• As a result of the not-invented-here syndrome a plethora of different script versions being used throughout the company.

See also

• Copy and paste programming
• Anti-pattern
• Not invented here