Planning Extreme Programming (XP)

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Kent Beck, Martin Fowler

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Pages: 160 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0201710919

Pub: Addison Wesley

Pub date: 2000-11-01

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 306463

Editorial Review:

Programming continues to refuse to be engineering. This is why there are so many cancelled projects, cost and time overruns and customer dissatisfaction. Planning Extreme Programming offers a way to run small-to-medium size programming projects in such a way as to produce the required product on time and to budget.
To achieve this the authors focus away from complex, report-led planning to a people-oriented process which treats programming like a craft project. Extreme Programming starts by recognising reality: start right and you'll finish right. In fact the authors specifically argue against overtime, increasing manpower on late projects and other such attempts to increase productivity as evidence of failure. They start by breaking projects into stories (or features), insist on customer involvement, iterate relentlessly over a timescale of weeks, set short-term targets based on the evidence of previous iterations and--in a break with traditional practices--absolutely insist on customer involvement at every stage, including signing off each story.

The claimed results of applying the XP approach is a better product with fewer bugs as well as the ability to meet agreed deadlines and budgets. Pretty impressive claims for a book that reads like a set of obvious, common-sense rules. Astonishingly, the only planning tool required is a box of index cards and the right attitude. You are even recommended to avoid spreadsheets. Perhaps, then, the real success of Extreme Programming rests on its implicit acknowledgement that programming is a craft, and not engineering. What can you say? It works. Read it and then implement it. -- Steve Patient

Reader Reviews:

slim and low on content (6/31 people found this helpful)

This book is not large. It contains advice as to how to run software projects, some of which is obvious and intuitive, some of which is counterintuitive and quite possibly counterproductive. A depressing read.

An excellent advisory for managers or team leads (6/8 people found this helpful)

If you need guidance on rolling out the "management" of extreme programming within and to organisations... Its a light read, but one that you can return to again for inspiration and courage. The stories speak to the heart of anyone who has worked on software development and wondered why it doesn't always turn out as planned...

The fundamental principle behind the XP approach to all projects and development is to use the simplest possible working interaction model. Beck & Fowler have arrived at the conclusion that simple models are the only way to scale software engineering capacity and capability. They assert that this approach will work effectively over long periods of time without introducing pathologies that kill the innovation and empowerment that are hallmarks of creativity based information industry.

Beck's hidden agenda appears to be that by building simple self-similar (benign) operational systems, which in turn produce powerful coherent behaviour; this in turn empowers and allows creativity, innovation and personal growth.

Essential reading for all professional software engineers (8/8 people found this helpful)

This is the first book on software planning which I've found to be an entertaining read, as well as presenting valuable information and ideas. Even better, it's short enough to read in an evening. The perspective is very much on improving the interface between techies and business people, an area which is weak in most organisations. The mood is practical (aggressively so!) rather than theoretical; this is a book which might genuinely change some of the ways we work. If it turns out that XP is not for you (it won't suit all environments, for sure) then you should at least understand it so that you reject it for the right reasons.

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