Something Smells

I just read an article that takes a very cynical view on XP and Agile methodologies. I wasn't allowed to comment without signing up for something so I will comment here. Check out the post " On the trail with the Cowboy Coders ." I think the author misses the point of Test Driven Development (TDD) and the XP practices, as a whole. His suggestion that XP is "Cowboy Coding" couldn't be further from the truth. In fact (this is always said) XP takes a great deal of discipline. All of the practices and values must work together or you will never reap the benefits of XP. In particular, TDD is not merely a way of making sure that your code is tested. This is a common misconception amongst those who have been newly introduced to TDD. The reality is that TDD serves as a design tool. Now, XP does "shun" up-front formal design. But XP does not ask us to do "no design". The design is expressed differently....the design evolves. Let's take a look...

Well, It's been a while since my last post...trust me I've been busy! I've been reading quite a bit about Agile Developmet trends. Always ready to learn some new nugget of goodness. I always find myself asking, "What is really, really important to an agile project?" Is it simplicity? Test Driven Development ? Pair Programming ? Evolutionary Design? One of so many other values and practices ? Of course my first response is, "it's all important, XP requires a tempered application of ALL the values and practices." We have so many around us that don't like this answer. They wonder, "where are the controls? What is the process?" My answer is, inevitably, "the team is the control and the process. They are guided by a coach and a good faith effort to provide regular software releases." I must admit that, in business, we need to"know". Know when the software is going to be done. Know when the software is not going to be done...