Lean development #6

(More on Lean Development by Mary Poppendieck; available as a review copy here.) We’ll see if I manage to finish this post before going to the meeting at 9. The fifth chapter, titled “Empower the Team”, is very interesting, and reading it generated lots of associations. I thought about how I consider XP, as it is described in Extreme Programming Explained, to be an “implementation of an architecture”. You have a set of core values (simplicity, communication, feedback and courage) which, under particular circumstances, gains form as twelve practices.

Therefore, doing by-the-book XP is just wrong. It’s not what XP is about. However, unless you are perfectly aware of what you are doing, starting by following the book is highly recommended. But without constantly evaluating your process, trying to improve it and adapt it to the local circumstances, you won’t experience as great benefits. I’ll have to go to the meeting now, but I’ll definitely return to this as soon as possible. This is interesting stuff.