Agile project management with XP Manual

MANUAL GESTIÓN DE PROYECTOS ÁGILES

6. The XP principles

The values are universal and very generic. Although in the explanations we have introduced specific examples related to programming, in reality we could have used examples from any other context, as communication, simplicity, feedback, courage and respect could be applied in other contexts. To bridge the gap between values and technical best practices, Kent Beck, one of the authors of the XP methodology, decided to indicate a set of Principles. According to him, principles are vital guidelines specific to a particular environment. In other words, values are too abstract to guide behaviour. Principles are a refinement of values, but made concrete for a specific environment. The following principles are defined in XP : 1. Humanity: developers are people and, as such, have personal needs and goals. Extreme programming is aware of this aspect and does not consider people as interchangeable resources. Some XP practices aim to satisfy, as far as possible, the personal needs of each team member in a way that is balanced with the team as a whole. The reasoning behind this approach is very simple, a person will be involved with the team's goals if in some way those goals are aligned with his or her own personal goals. 2. Economics: someone pays the salaries. So all technical work has to be aligned with business objectives. You always try to implement the user stories with the most value to the business as soon as possible. There are two economic issues that affect software development. On the one hand, there is the time value of money, which means that having a euro today is better than having the same euro tomorrow. That is why it is necessary to have software running as soon as possible, even if that software can go into production if the business model deems it appropriate. These kinds of ideas are very much in line with lean startup concepts, where the business model needs to be validated as soon as possible with customers. On the other hand, there is value as a future option. If the software and equipment are flexible and adaptable to change, they will have much more value than if they are fixed and rigid. The technical practices being proposed have economics at the forefront of their minds. 3. Mutual benefit: Tasks have to be of benefit to the one who performs them and to the one who benefits from them. If this is not the case, these tasks will end up being performed with less care because they do not bring direct value to the performer. The most representative case is the case of European Open Business School

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