Towards a proper integration of large refactorings in agile software development

Refactoring is a key element of many agile software development methods. While most developers associate small design changes with the term refactoring (as described by Martin Fowler and William F. Opdyke), everyday development practice in medium- to large-sized projects calls for more than fine-grained refactorings. Such projects involve more complex refactorings, running for several hours or days and sometimes consisting of a huge number of steps. This paper discusses the problems posed by large refactorings and presents an approach that allows agile teams to integrate large refactorings into their daily work.