[sheepmullet]

It leads to lots of brittle and highly coupled tests?

It always focuses on the next immediate task which leads to going down a lot of dead ends, and a lot of local optimums that need to be refactored out?

The key benefit is that it helps you focus, even when tired or stressed. You get dozens of small wins/celebrations every hour which is great for your motivation. It also ensures you actually write tests (again handy with tight deadlines and high stress situations).

Does that make it worthwhile? Sometimes. I did a TDD exclusively when I had young kids and it was a great help with my focus. I'd recommend it to new parents, people with sleeping disorders, people in high stress work places, etc.