XP (was Re: Defending the Python lanuage... )

[Chris Gonnerman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Laura Creighton" <lac at strakt.com>
> 
> Don't formalise the process too much.  You are not trying to bring 
> order to your establishment by building rules that work top-down.  
> You are trying to foster order that works from the bottom up.

Here is the ideal of XP which I think is being lost on managers 
trying to implement it for buzzword compliance.  They don't really
understand what they are doing, so they will *mandate* all parts
of XP even if they are incompatible with the people doing the work.

XP is only going to work if you adapt it together with your people.
Each side may have to give; if the programmers you are working with
are hardheaded (and which of us aren't), forcing them to pair-program
or do other XP things is *not* going to improve anything.

I've lived through too many "paradigm shifts" already.  I remember
the fiasco of TQM being applied to a scientific laboratory, where
commitment to quality was already so high that the technicians were
insulted.  Managers blindly applying buzzwords like Band-Aids makes
me curse... whether it's TQM, or Java, or XP, *no* "new way" will
work for everyone.

It's just not a one-size-fits-all world.