Why eXtreme Programming works ? (Lean Software Development part 2)

14 minute read

I’ve been programming for quite some time now, in different teams, using various methodologies. I also had the luck to do XP for at least 3 different projects. To me the conclusion is obvious, XP delivers more. Even better, programmers working with XP seem to be happier. The only thing I’ve seen that works better than XP, is fine tunning it once the team has mastered the main principles.

An extreme diet pill bottle

XP was first put in place at the Chrysler C3 project for SmallTalk performance issues. After being called for performance issues, Kent Beck discovered that these were only the tip of the iceberg, everything was going astray. As the expert in the room, people started to ask him how to organize. I remember reading some time ago that without having thought about it before, he gathered all the most efficient programming techniques he knew together into a new process. XP was born.

So the question is : what did Kent Beck put in XP so that it works so well ? Let’s go through the Flow book and its 175 lean product development principles, to see if we get some explanations.

Concentric circles featuring the 12 core xp practices"

Going through the 12 core XP practices, the main Scrum ceremonies and a few common additions, I’ll try to explain why they work through the Flow book’s principles.

Whole Team

This is the same thing as Pizza Team, Feature team, Cross Functional Team. It just means put everyone involved in the creation of the product in the same room (On site customer, sales, product people, programmers, quality controllers, operation people …).

Ref The principle of … Summary page
B17 Proximity Proximity enables small batch sizes 129
W12 T-Shaped resources Develop people who are deep in one area and broad in many 155
W13 Skill overlap Cross-train resources at adjacent processes 156
F24 Alternate routes Develop and maintain alternate routes around points of congestion 201
F25 Flexible resources Use flexible resources to absord variation 202
FF14 Locality of feedback Whenever possible, make the feedback local 226
FF19 Colocation Colocation improves almost all aspects of communication 230
FF23 Overlapping measurement To align behaviors, reward people for the work of others 233
D7 Alignment There is more value created with overall alignment than local execellence 252
D13 Peer-level coordination Tactical coordination should be local 257
D18 Response frequency We can’t respond faster than our (internal) response frequency 261
D22 Face-to-face communication Exploit the speed and bandwidth of face-to-face communications 263

Planning Game

The work is split into user stories. The customer then estimates the business value of each story, before the programmers poker estimate the required work for them. The game is then to maximize the scheduled business value creation for the coming iteration (1 to 3 weeks).

Ref The principle of … Summary page
E4 Economic value-added The value added by an activity is the change in the economic value of the work product 32
E7 Imperfection Even imperfect answers improve decision making 36
E9 Continuous economic tradeoffs Economic choices must be made continuously 37
E10 Perishability I Many economic choices are more valuable when made quickly 38
E14 Market I Ensure decision makers feel both cost and benefit 42
E15 Optimium decision timing Every decision has its optimum economic timing 44
Q10 Queueing discipline Queue cost is affected by the sequence in which we handle the jobs in the queue 69
Q13 Queue size control I Don’t control capacity utilization, control queue size 75
Q14 Queue size control II Don’t control the cycle time, control queue size 76
V5 Variability pooling Overall variation decreases when uncorrelated random tasks are combined 95
V6 Short-term forcasting Forecasting becomes exponentially easier at short time-horizons 96
B18 Run length Short run lengths reduce queues 130
B20 Batch content Sequence first that which adds value most cheaply 131
W1 WIP constraints Constrain WIP to control cycle time and flow 145
W3 global constraints Use global constraints for predictable and permanent bottlenecks 147
W6 Demand blocking Block all demand when WIP reaches its upper limit 151
W8 Flexible requirements Control WIP by shedding requirements 152
W19 Adaptive WIP constraints Adjust WIP constraints as capacity changes 162
F5 Periodic resynchronization Use a regular cadence to limit the accumulation of variance 177
F7 The cadence reliability Use cadence to make waiting times predictable 179
F9 Cadenced meetings Schedule frequent meetings using a predictable cadence 180
F18 The local priority Priorities are inherently local 196
FF10 Agility I We don’t need long planning horizons when we have a short turning radius 222
FF21 Hurry-up-and-wait Large queues make it hard to create urgency 232
D4 Opportunity Adjust the plan for unplanned obstacles and opportunities 249
D14 Flexible plans Use simple modular plans 258

Small Releases

Make a lot of small releases.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
Q2 Queueing waste Queues are the root cause of the majority of economic waste in product development 56
V8 Repetition Repetition reduces variation 99
B1-8 Batch size Reducing batch size reduces cycle time, variability in flow, risk, overhead and accelerates feedback, while large batches reduces efficiency, lower motivation and urgency and cause exponential cost and schedule growth 112-117
F8 Cadenced batch size enabling Use a regular cadence to enable small batch size 179
FF7 Queue reduction by feedback Fast feedback enables smaller queues 220
FF8 Fast-learning Use fast feedback to make learning faster and more efficient 220
FF11 Batch size feedback Small batches yield fast feedback 223
FF20 Empowerment by feedback Fast feedback gives a sense of control 231
FF21 Hurry-up-and-wait Large queues make it hard to create urgency 232
D23 Trust Trust is built through experience 264

Customer Tests

The customer assists the programmers into writing automated use case tests.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
V16 Variability displacements Move variability to the process stage where its cost is lowest 107
B17 Proximity Proximity enables small batch sizes 129
F30 Flow conditioning Reduce variability before a bottleneck 208
FF7 Queue reduction by feedback Fast feedback enables smaller queues 220
FF8 Fast-learning Use fast feedback to make learning faster and more efficient 220
FF11 Batch size feedback Small batches yield fast feedback 223
FF14 Locality of feedback Whenever possible, make the feedback local 226
FF19 Colocation Colocation improves almost all aspects of communication 230
FF20 Empowerment by feedback Fast feedback gives a sense of control 231
D8 Mission Specify the end state, its purpose and the minimum possible constraints 252
D16 Early contact Make early and meaningful contact with the problem 259

Collective Code Ownership

Every programmer is responsible to evolve and maintain all the source code, and not just his part.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
Q7 Queuing structure Serve pooled demand with reliable high-capacity servers 64
W12 T-Shaped resources Develop people who are deep in one area and broad in many 155
F25 Flexible resources Use flexible resources to absord variation 202
FF23 Overlapping measurement To align behaviors, reward people for the work of others 233
D1 Perishablility II Decentralize control for problems and opportunities that age poorly 246
D4 Virtual centralization Be able to quickly reorganize decentralized resources to create centralized power 250
D5 Inefficiency The inefficiency of decentralization (as opposed to silos) can cost less than the value of faster reponse time 251

Coding Standards

All programmers agree on coding conventions for all the source code they write.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
W12 T-Shaped resources Develop people who are deep in one area and broad in many 155
F25 Flexible resources Use flexible resources to absord variation 202

Sustainable Pace

As the value created by a knowledge work does not increase linearly with the time spent, it’s wiser to work a number of hours that both maximizes the work done while allowing the team to keep on going forever if needed.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
E5 Inactivity Watch the work product, not the worker 33
Q3 Queueing capacity utilization Capacity utilization increases queues exponentially 59
B9 Batch size death spiral Large batches lead to even large batches 118

Metaphor

Whether an actual metaphor or an ubiquitous language, the idea is to build a shared customer oriented architecture and design of the system.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
W12 T-Shaped resources Develop people who are deep in one area and broad in many 155
F25 Flexible resources Use flexible resources to absord variation 202

Continuous Integration

All the code of all the team is merged, tested, packaged and deployed very frequently (many times per day)

Ref The principle of … Summary page
Q2 Queueing waste Queues are the root cause of the majority fo economic waste in product development 56
V8 Repetition Repetition reduces variation 99
B1-8 Batch size Reducing batch size reduces cycle time, variability in flow, risk, overhead and accelerates feedback, while large batches reduces efficiency, lower motivation and urgency and cause exponential cost and schedule growth 112-117
B12 Low transaction cost Reducing the transaction cost per batch lowers overall costs 123
B16 Transport batches The most important batch is the transport batch 128
B19 Infrastructure Good infrastructure enables small batches 130
F29 Resource centralization Correctly managed, centralized resources can reduce queues 206
FF7 Queue reduction by feedback Fast feedback enables smaller queues 220
FF11 Batch size feedback Small batches yield fast feedback 223
FF16 Multiple control loops Embed fast control loops inside slow loops 228
FF21 Hurry-up-and-wait Large queues make it hard to create urgency 232

Test Driven Development

Programmers write failing tests (both customer and unit tests) before actual real code

Ref The principle of … Summary page
V15 Iteration speed it is usually better to improve iteration speed than defect rate 106
V16 Variability displacements move variability to the process stage where its cost is lowest 107
B1-8 Batch size Reducing batch size reduces cycle time, variability in flow, risk, overhead and accelerates feedback, while large batches reduces efficiency, lower motivation and urgency and cause exponential cost and schedule growth 112-117
F30 Flow conditioning Reduce variability before a bottleneck 208
FF7 Queue reduction by feedback Fast feedback enables smaller queues 220
FF8 The fast-learning principle Use fast feedback to make learning faster and more efficient 220
FF11 The batch size principle of feedback Small batches yield fast feedback 223
FF14 The locality principle of feedback Whenever possible, make the feedback local 226
FF16 The principle of multiple control loops Embed fast control loops inside slow loops 228
FF20 The empowerment principle of feedback Fast feedback gives a sense of control 231

Refactoring

Programmers improve the design of the system continuously, meaning in very frequent baby steps. This removes the need for a big design up front.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
E13 The first decision rule principle Use decision rules to decentralize economic control 41
V9 The reuse principle Reuse reduces variability 100
B9 The batch size death spiral principle Large batches lead to even large batches 118
B19 The infrastructure principle Good infrastructure enables small batches 130
F28 The principle of preplanned flexibility For fast responses, preplan and invest in flexibility 205
D12 The second agility principle Develop the ability to quickly shift focus 255

Simple Design

Do the simplest thing that could possibly work. No need to write things that don’t add business value yet. (Note that simple does not mean easy)

Ref The principle of … Summary page
E19 Insurance Don’t pay more for insurance than the expected loss 49
V12 Variability consequences Reducing consequences is usually the best way to reduce the cost of variability 103
B9 Batch size death spiral Large batches lead to even large batches 118
B15 Fluidity Loose coupling between product subsystems enables small batches 126
W12 T-Shaped resources Develop people who are deep in one area and broad in many 155
F25 Flexible resources Use flexible resources to absorb variation 202
D12 Agility II Develop the ability to quickly shift focus 255

Pair Programming

Programmers sit at the same computer in pairs to write code. One write the code, and the other comments. The keyboard changes hands very frequently.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
B13 Batch size diseconomies Batch size reduction saves much more than you think 124
B21 Batch size I Reduce the batch size before you attack bottlenecks 133
W12 T-Shaped resources Develop people who are deep in one area and broad in many 155
W13 Skill overlap Cross-train resources at adjacent processes 156
F25 Flexible resources Use flexible resources to absord variation 202
F30 Flow conditioning Reduce variability before a bottleneck 208
FF14 Locality of feedback Whenever possible, make the feedback local 226
FF16 Multiple control loops Embed fast control loops inside slow loops 228
FF19 Colocation Colocation improves almost all aspects of communication 230
FF20 Empowerment by feedback Fast feedback gives a sense of control 231
D13 Peer-level coordination Tactical coordination should be local 257
D22 Face-to-face communication Exploit the speed and bandwidth of face-to-face communications 263

Spikes

Programmers conduct time boxed experiment to gain insights

Ref The principle of … Summary page
V2 Asymmetric payoffs Payoff asymmetries enable variability to create economic value 88
V7 Small experiments Many small experiments produce less variation than one big one 98

Slack Time

Keep some buffer time at the end of the iteration where team members can either close the remaining stories or work on improvements.

Ref The principle of … Summary page
V11 Buffer Buffers trade money for variability reduction 101
B9 Batch size death spiral Large batches lead to even large batches 118
B19 Infrastructure Good infrastructure enables small batches 130
F6 Ccadence capacity margin Provide sufficient capacity margin to enable cadence 178
D12 Agility II Develop the ability to quickly shift focus 255
D15 Tactical reserves Decentralize a portion of reserves 258

Daily Stand Up Meeting

The whole team starts every working day by a quick synchronization meeting

Ref The principle of … Summary page
B3 Batch size feedback Reducing batch size accelerate feedback 113
W12 T-Shaped resources Develop people who are deep in one area and broad in many 155
W20 Expansion control Prevent uncontrolled expansion of work 163
F5 Periodic resynchronization Use a regular cadence to limit the accumulation of variance 177
F9 Cadenced meetings Schedule frequent meetings using a predictable cadence 180

Retrospective meeting

At the end of every iteration, the team meets for a retrospective, discussing what they did in order to improve

Ref The principle of … Summary page
B9 Batch size death spiral Large batches lead to even large batches 118
B19 Infrastructure Good infrastructure enables small batches 130
F9 Cadenced meetings Schedule frequent meetings using a predictable cadence 180
FF8 Fast-learning Use fast feedback to make learning faster and more efficient 220
FF20 Empowerment by feedback Fast feedback gives a sense of control 231
D21 Regenerative initiative Cultivating initiative enables us to use initiative 263

Demos

At the end of every iteration, the team demonstrates what it did to the customer

Ref The principle of … Summary page
E14 Market I Ensure decision makers feel both cost and benefit 42
B3 Batch size feedback Reducing batch size accelerate feedback 113
B9 Batch size death spiral Large batches lead to even large batches 118
F9 Cadenced meetings Schedule frequent meetings using a predictable cadence 180
FF7 Queue reduction by feedback Fast feedback enables smaller queues 220
FF8 Fast-learning Use fast feedback to make learning faster and more efficient 220
FF20 Empowerment by feedback Fast feedback gives a sense of control 231
FF21 Hurry-up-and-wait Large queues make it hard to create urgency 232
FF23 Overlapping measurement To align behaviors, reward people for the work of others 233
D23 Trust Trust is built through experience 264

Visual Whiteboard

Display the stories of the current sprint on the wall in a 3 columns whiteboard (TODO, DOING, DONE)

Ref The principle of … Summary page
W23 Visual WIP Make WIP continuously visible 166
F27 Local transparency Make tasks and resources reciprocally visible at adjacent processes 204
D17 Decentralized information For decentralized decisions, disseminate key information widely 260

Conclusion

Whaoo that’s a lot ! I did not expect to find so many principles underlying XP (I even removed principles that were not self explanatory). For the XP practitioner that I am, writing this blog post helped me to deepen understanding of it. As XPers know, XP is quite opiniated, it’s both a strength and a weakness if you try to apply it outside of its zone of comfort. This explains why some lean subjects are simply not addressed by XP.

To summarize, here is where XP hits the ground :

  • In spite of its image of ‘a process for nerdy programmers’ XP turns out to be a quite evolved lean method !
  • XP anihilates batch size and feedback time
  • Pair programming is well explained

And here is where to look at when you’ll need to upgrade XP

  • Better tradeoffs might be found with a real quantitative economical framework
  • Synchronization principles might help working with other teams

Kent Beck could not have read the Flow book when he invented XP, but it seems he just had a bit of advance on the rest of us …

This was part 2 of my suite of article about Lean Software Development, Part 1 was The Flow book summary, Part 3 will be How to measure your speed with your business value ?

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