In some software development methodologies, "spike" is a task whose goal is figuring something out instead of delivering shippable code. https://agiledictionary.com/209/spike/

▲

smj-edison 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

TIL that agile has its own words for everything.

▲

Espressosaurus 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Why can't they call it a prototype or experiment? Sheesh.

▲

bloomca 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Prototype is usually something working, while spike can be pure research (e.g. validate that APIs are feasible and enough, or that something satisfies requirements). Prototype is usually more polished/usable. Experiment in my mind is something which user-facing but not in stable yet.

So for me they are differentiated enough, but could be that I am just used to it.

	▲	Espressosaurus 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		An experiment doesn’t say anything about user facing or not. I do tons of them when reverse engineering poorly documented hardware and APIs to determine if the thing I’m trying to do is even supported.