peter_wise2001 wrote (on the XpMailingList): For an upcoming job interview, I have spent much time today finding out about XP. I recognise that it would seem to solve many of the problems that, in my experience, have beset software development:
- The dangers of concentration on the abstract at the requirements/design stage of the software development cycle.
- The necessity of reiteration in the cycle and in parts of the cycle.
- The loneliness the programmer and the stress caused by code reviews.
- The difficulty in tracking true progress.
- Lack of regular customer involvement and the risk of "making the wrong product" for the customer.
The UsualSuspects replied:
- I'm JustaProgrammer. All I want to do in life is code, eat, have relations, and sleep. Each following BestPractices.
- Without a team practicing XP, or similar BestPractices, I can't just code.
- The team enforces worst practices that cause "ProcessWaste", then they enforce other worst practices to clean up.
Observed bottlenecks to productivity:
- My colleague
- wrote a class I can't fix
- delayed integration, causing bugs
- My team
- does not run DailyBuilds
- does not maintain CommonBuildEnvironments
- does not run my tests every 10 edits
- treats test failures as bugs I caused by testing too much
- insists on using languages like VisualBasic that resist flow; by locking up the editor each time you run the TestSuite
- insists on using languages like PerlLanguage that resist refactoring
- culture equates "ReFactoring" with "rework" and "adding bugs", despite overwhelming evidence that fewer code lines makes for less bugs and easier upgrades
- strictly limits my ability to converse with a real "customer", because I might freak them out
- Code without tests derails my code (with tests), so I must run the debugger I was trying to avoid
- Other team members (and management) don't agree that running the automated tests is a requirement for checking in the code. So they regularly change the code "away" from the tests, breaking them. And I don't have the time to do "the other half" of their jobs.
- My boss
- ordered my colleague not to sit next to me and help
- ordered me not to check my tests into the house version control system, because "we already have too many modules in it" (mostly CodeForks) [FearOfAddingClasses]
- tells me my time estimates instead of the other way around
- refuses to prioritize features in business order, "because you might get the architecture wrong"
- Our customers refuse to accept frequent releases because they are familiar with vendors using them as their free Quality Control teams
XP is a BulletOfaVeryShinyMaterial, that is known to slay all those lycanthropes.