Extreme Programming Installed Ch 7-9

Reference Information

Title: Extreme Programming Installed

Author: Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, Chet Hendrickson

Editor: Addison-Wesley Professional, October 2000

Summary:

Chapter 7 - Small Releases

This chapter sheds some light on why it is very important to have small releases while following the extreme programming methodology. The main advantage of small releases is that they provide the customer and the developers with early feedback. This adds to the flexibility of the project. Thus, if the customer requirements change during the course of the project, small releases allow the programmers to incorporate those changes in the product before it's too late.

Chapter 8 - Customer Defines Releases

This chapter focuses on the importance of having customer in the team. The customer is an important part of the process and the customer defines the what he/she wants in each of the releases. The process starts with the customers writing stories to explain the developers what they want. Once these stories are passed on to the developers, the developers clarify their doubts and ask questions about the requirements. Accordingly, the developers give the customer a time estimate to achieve those tasks. Finally, the exploration phase also includes writing and examination of the user stories. This provides for an estimate of the time required and the costs to implement the feature into the product.

Chapter 9 - Iteration Planning

In the iteration planning phase, the developers make a list of tasks and decide the order in which they need to be complemented and the time required to complete each task. This overview with time and cost estimates is then passed on to the customer and the customer decides if he/she needs any changes in the iteration that could maximize the business value of the product. Once the developers and customers settle down on what tasks they need to achieve during the iteration, tasks are assigned to the respective teams.

Discussion:

The book is an clear indicator that it has been written by computer scientists rather than technical writers or English majors. The information is presented in a very articulate and concise manner and in a very lucid language. Each of the development phases mentioned in this book make complete sense. Extreme Programming methodology has been proven to be very successful which is why it's being used extensively in the industry where the speed and accuracy of delivering the product both are very important to stay ahead in the race.