Subj : Re: extreme programming (thoughts)
To   : comp.programming
From : Phlip
Date : Fri Jul 22 2005 05:05 pm

matt wrote:

> ive hinted at the situtation here, but my org hired 1) a team to come
> in and do the xp 2) coaches in the beginning. now they are continuing
> the project on their own and bringing some of our FT people into the
> project.  this team is in a room, have no cubes, and just do xp. ive
> recently been assigned to it.

Ah, yes. I remember back when I was assembling horseless carriages from
scratch with my bare hands. The sense of pride when you start the pilot
light, crank the engine, and it turns over the first time, and you know that
you carved and tooled every part out of solid brass yourself.

Then one day Henry Ford hired me, but all I had to do was stand on an
assembly line with all these other guys and tighten one bolt.

This is progress?!

> i can concede that the problem may be in their inexperience. my biggest
> issue is w/ the lack of any sort of documentation or comments
> whatsoever. i know xp is supposed to make things crystal clear via
> refactoring,

.... and literate test cases, like at http://fitnesse.org ...

> but after this project is handed over to the FT people and
> the consultants go away, i think it will be harder to understand w/o
> comments.
>
> (tho others have mentioned that you *can* write comments, tho they
> still hinted that refactoring is better. i simply believe that comments
> should *always* be wrtitten, regardless. ive worked w/ too much code to
> think  that now, i the history of programming, xp can produce code so
> simple it doesnt need comments.)

I'm getting you started this thread sore from being dressed-down regarding
you tried to write a comment saying "the purpose of this function is to...".

Your pair should have just nudged, "less commenting; you'l see how we'll do
without them", and let you keep going. Instead, your pair relied on he could
enforce a team "policy".

Such policies, including when and how to comment, are supposed to be
emergent, not enforced by law.

> > some folks also don't like XP because code isn't 'theirs', it reduces
> > their perceived status and power in the project.   Seen any of that?
>
> nah, the xp team is polite and very into what they are doing. they are
> enthusiastic about their work.

Then why is QA seeing a high bug rate? Such rates are supposed to feed back
into the team's awareness of the quality of their work.

On the other hand, if QA is only reporting a dumb stream of easily fixed
things, and if the mechanisms to fix them are indeed in place, then you
might have a lower opinion of your project's health than others there. Yes,
they could be better, but they might indeed be ahead of code-and-fix.

-- 
  Phlip
  http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?ZeekLand

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