XPProblemsAndMyths

My name is Matthew Cooke here are some of my XP related thoughts:

Great things about XP

• Rate of progress
• Quick customer feedback
• "I can fix this right now" attitude of developers
• Ability to make changes because of automated test suites.
• Project direction can change rapidly to meet changing business requirements
• Shared developer knowledge
• Improved Team Working
• Rapid testing and release cycle
• All projects have problems - but in XP it is usually obvious what the source of the problem is, which can be frustrating as you can see the answer...

XP problems that can occur

• Customers require fixed "long term" contracts
• A Developer won't explain to the other person what he is doing
• Never ending arguments between developers
• Planning games going on too long
• Stories being completed != Cash coming in
• Not all developers buy into certain solution and don't want to work on certain parts of the project.
• Project Velocity going down
• Too many developer interruptions
• "We're not going to test this - it's too simple" syndrome.
• Managers resistant to XP
• Customers resistant to XP
• Developers resistant to XP
• Unit test suites encourage class changes but discourage architectural changes due to breaking too many tests
• Dogma and religiosity cause suspicion of creative thinking.

XP myths

• Lack of code ownership causes chaos
• XP sounds like dodgy hacking
• No big upfront design will cause problems later on
• Lack of code commenting causes problems
• Lack of documentation causes problems
• XP is too slow because only half the people are typing

XP Hidden secrets

• XPer's are often *already* experienced in good OO design and code writing
• Employ the best - work with people before you employ them
• Use the very best build, development, refactoring and testing tools
• Improve anything slowing the development or release cycle quickly
• XPer's communicate alot both by overhearing and by discussing things informally this includes talking to customers
• Shared vision of what major architectural changes need to be made so that incremental steps can be made daily.
• Biscuits and toast! says Rachel
• Doing the simplest thing usually resolves developer arguments &
• Changing pair every day spreads system knowledge like hot gossip

I've been doing XP now for some time at Connextra and I thought I would jot down some XP Feelings, Problems, Solutions and Myths that I've encountered. Obviously some of this is subjective - feel free to hack this page to pieces, many pages on this wiki offer solutions to the problems - for now I haven't linked to them but I may come back later and do that.