A road map for implementing eXtreme programming

Abstract

This paper proposes an implementation roadmap that shows how in-experienced software teams in industrial developing areas in China can adopt eXtreme Programming (XP) to produce software applications. Inexperienced teams unfamiliar with XP can face difficulties in adopting at once all twelve XP practices in a "big bang" implementation strategy. Intuitively, a step-by-step approach might seem more practical; however, XP practices are heavily intertwined and mutually dependent, creating problems in terms of prioritizing and justifying one instructional sequence over another. We propose a way to technically analyze the complex interrelationships between XP practices by identifying cluster patterns. These patterns can then be used to assist us in sequencing the introduction XP practices, helping both inexperienced teams and classroom learners in using XP. This work has value in both industrial and educational contexts. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.