---
title: "Not Invented here"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/11/24/not-invented-here.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/11/24/not-invented-here.html"
published: "2004-11-24T15:00:00"
updated: "2004-11-24T15:00:00"
tags: ["Agile Related", "Off Topic"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "\"The product of NotInventedHere is ReinventingTheWheel which wheel unfortunately is often square, without spokes, or squeaks like heck. ..\" \"The pattern can also lead to a paradoxical situation. If the pattern is…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# Not Invented here

By Roy Osherove November 24, 2004 In [Agile Related](https://osherove.com/blog/category/agile-related), [Off Topic](https://osherove.com/blog/category/off-topic)

**Historical article** · Originally published November 24, 2004; technical details may be outdated.

_"The product of_ [_NotInventedHere_](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?NotInventedHere) _is_ [_ReinventingTheWheel_](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ReinventingTheWheel) _which wheel unfortunately is often square, without spokes, or squeaks like heck. .."_

_"The pattern can also lead to a paradoxical situation. If the pattern is applied in its strictest sense, it effectively excludes its own use. The NIH pattern has obviously been used many times before by others and may not be re-used. This would actually be of benefit in that it would thereby be self annihilating. Unfortunately we are all so flexible that the pattern is never so applied and therefore remains dangerous. --_ [_RobertPhillips_](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?RobertPhillips)  _.."_

_\[via [the amazing wiki](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?NotInventedHere)\]_

Well, **I** thought it was funny..

## More in Agile Related

[All posts in Agile Related](https://osherove.com/blog/category/agile-related)

- Nov 29, 2004

    ### [TestDriven.Net version 1.0 is out (with a new site design as well)](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/11/29/testdrivennet-version-10-is-out-with-a-new-site-design-as-we.html)

- Nov 27, 2004

    ### [Can Agile project management software succeed?](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/11/27/can-agile-project-management-software-succeed.html)

- Nov 12, 2004

    ### [Article: Continuous Database Integration by Peter Hancock](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/11/12/article-continuous-database-integration-by-peter-hancock.html)

- Nov 7, 2004

    ### [IntelliJ IDEA keeps getting better](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/11/7/intellij-idea-keeps-getting-better.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

- X: https://x.com/royosherove
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/

### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/