We used it at my old job, and i really miss it. I was *really* skeptical at first, but quickly grew to love it. Great way to learn, have fun, and actually get a *lot* of work done. We found that even pairing people with rather different areas of expertise (e.g. EJBs vs web tier) still worked out nicely--the different perspectives only helped, and both ended up learning. And since there's greatly reduced code ownership (since you're pairing and switching the pairs around often), there seems to be a lot less fear about changing code. Also, since everybody ends up working on all parts of the app, your truck factor is reduced and you'll end up with fewer bottlenecks (e.g. "Crap...Bob is out sick today and he's the only one who knows how the FooBar part of the system works").
A few tips: 1) Once you've proven it to be a success, push management for dual monitors at pairing stations. (seriously!) We found being able to devote one screen to code and the other to command prompts, browsers, etc. very helpful. 2) I'm a die-hard IntelliJ IDEA fan (www.intellij.com/idea), so i've gotta plug it...its "programming-by-intention" feature is great for XP. When you're writing your tests first (JUnit is integrated) and reference a currently non-existent method in the class being tested, IDEA will ask if you want to create it and, if so, stub it out. Also, the refactoring tools are amazing, and IMHO very suitable for XP development. 3) Make sure all team members get in the habit of brushing teeth after lunch--your pairs (and dentists) will be grateful ;) If you can, give it a chance and try it out. chris > -----Original Message----- > From: Cliff Rowley [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 1:01 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: XP (and not the Microsoft kind) > > > A bit of off-topic, but it's Friday, so there :) > > Today I read an new article on IBM developerWorks on eXtreme > Programming, in which the author pretty much sorts the wheat from the > chaff in explaining XP, and I am very interested. I'd > avoided XP in the > past because all the FUD that surrounds it made it difficult for me to > determine exactly what it was and what it involved without spending a > significant amount of time researching it (time is money!). > > Now I am curious as to who is using XP and how true it is to it's > promise of increased collaboration, increased productivity and more > importantly increased project success rate. > > Being unedjumucated, I have found it difficult in the past > dealing with > projects in the various ways I have experienced. I've not had a great > time all in all, with too many horror stories for someone with only 4 > years professional experience. I've found myself asking > 'why?' quite a > lot, and I've always wondered if there was a better way. > This also has > a lot to do with why I operate as a one man band, and generally try to > avoid 'complicated' development. > > If anyone has any views on XP or any real world world experience with > it, I'd love to hear about it. It appears that XP is being > more widely > adopted these days, with JUnit and various other tools available that > support the XP processes. > > The article is here, for anyone interested: > http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-xp0813/?n-j-8152 > -- > > Regards > > ------------------------------------------- > Cliff Rowley | [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Software Engineer | www.doctype.co.uk > +44 (0) 1206 514263 | www.cliffrowley.com > ------------------------------------------- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
