Extreme Programming and Inmates

In The Inmates are Running the Asylum Alan Cooper makes a compelling argument for interaction design which Cooper contends requires thorough exploration and documentation before any programming begins. Kent Beck in Extreme Programming Explained describes that the methodology uses a pull development model which specifies stories in detail immediately before implementation. When juxtaposed these two assertions seem contrary but upon reflection can be made complementary.

At their core agile methodologies like Extreme Programming (XP) emphasize creating good products, not just good programs. This distinction while subtle is important. By embracing the external input of customers, users, managers, and stakeholders XP practitioners acknowledge that a product is more than just a program comprised of features. Cooper similarly believes that a successful product is not just a feature compilation arguing that achieved goals, not features, compel users. Cooper’s advocacy for goal driven design leads to his suggestion of utilizing personas-- hypothetical archetypes of actual users. In XP projects developers can use personas as stand-ins for onsite customers. Personas allow XP teams to vet features through the lens of accomplishing a persona’s goals.

XP developers document external input in the form of user stories. An XP user story is a mechanism which estimates and describes units of customer-visible functionality. In his Agile 2008 Conference keynote, Cooper contends that creating user stories is arguably an agile programmers’ weakest skill and is an interaction designers’ strongest one. Cooper goes on to conclude that while agile methodologies like XP bring outsiders into the software construction process it is interaction design that makes the contributions of outsiders effective and useful. Simply stated, XP puts developers and stakeholders in direct collaboration while Cooper advocates placing an interaction designer in-between stakeholders and developers. Utilizing an interaction designer in conjunction with an XP team seems reasonable; allowing developers to focus on technical problems and interaction designers to focus on human factors. XP programmers can take Cooper’s advice by investing time to fully frame user stories, which ultimately speeds up programming and reduces costs.

Both Beck and Cooper are advocates of an iterative process. In Chapter 3: Wasting Money Cooper warns against using iterative product delivery as a means of product refinement. Later he declares that “getting to the right product is always a matter of iterating” (Cooper p240). What Cooper does not stress in Inmates but does so in his keynote at the Agile 2008 Conference is where the iterative process should take place. Cooper believes it is folly to iterate where customers are subject to abuse by those iterations and instead urges iteration during the design and engineering phases. While Beck urges that in an XP project the product should be in a releasable state at an iteration’s conclusion, he does not suggest that it must be released.

Incorporating Cooper's goal driven design with Beck's XP practices improves software product development. Beck acknowledges that there is no litmus test for certifying a development team extreme and Cooper is ultimately a proponent for the tenets of agile methodologies. While at first glance Beck and Cooper may seem to be in conflict regarding iterative software development, in reality they both offer valuable suggestions which should be leveraged. It is therefore up to an agile development team to incorporate the suggestions of each practice in a sustainable and effective way.

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