OpenToDebate

I'm sure that is tongue-in-cheek but it still makes me feel uncomfortable. Why is XP more of a road to DeveloperNirvana than CrystalClear?, SCRUM, DSDM or any of the other lightweight methods? From my perspective XP is JustAnotherMethod?. You have a project, it exists within an environment (social, physical and technical) and it has a set of constraints. You pick the right method for the job. Sometimes that is XP, sometimes it isn't. I think it's fitting the right method to the right problem that is one of the enablers behind developer nirvana, not one specific method (XP).

OliBye meant that it was a path. If there were only one path, once there, backwards would be the only way forward.

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Yes, I also feel XP is probably 'just another' light weight methodology and I'm sure a lot of failing projects that would have been better done in XP could also be sucessfull using other lightweight development paradigms. In addition to this XP can be executed to different degrees and with focus on different aspects. I would be happy working for any company that was enthusiastic about the lightweight development methodology they had selected regardless of whether it was XP or not.

Really all I care about is a non-chaotic lightweight development process which is flexible enough to change as needed. XP is OK but I would be open to other ways of working. AnoN

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...not involving developer-originated estimates ? ...not involving thorough unit testing ? ...not involving sustainable pace ? ...not involving emergent design ? ...not involving paired mindmeld ?

Well depending on the project I wouldn't mind focussing on functional / layered testing over unit testing. Also I wouldn't mind group discussion over paired mindmeld. In my opinion emergent design and sustainable pace are things that result from good practices and should not be confused with practices themselves - things like paired programming and unit testing. Some things like short Iterative Design and developer/customer based small estimates I find invaluable. AnoN

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All the activities in the above list pre-date XP by many years, so I agree with AnoN. However, I'd go further and say that the constant XP hype has -ve effects, it blinds people to other methods that may be more appropriate than XP in certain situations. I think we (the XP community) need to spread a more balanced view. IMHO that view should be "method per project".