Extreme Programming brings teamwork to the cubicle

Two men scrutinize a laptop computer screen in a
conference room splattered with yellow Post-it notes.
Conversation is interspersed with the tap-tap of
keyboards.

By K. Oanh Ha
Mercury News

“You don’t have to do that,” says Joe Toussaint to his
partner, Andy Fabbrini.

“I don’t?”

“No. Just highlight it here,” says Toussaint, pointing
at the computer screen.

“That works,” says Fabbrini.

The two programmers are riding the wave of a revolution in software development that aims to transform loners in
cubicles toiling quietly into the night into teams of communicative, cooperative and customer-oriented programmers
who work 9 to 5. The movement’s name — Extreme Programming — conjures images of geeks bungee-jumping with
laptops and suggests how radical the concept is for the techie set.

“There is this machismo culture in the valley where, if you’re not in your cubicle drinking Jolt cola and eating pizza at 2
in the morning, you’re not a high-tech stud,” says Rob Mee, who runs XP coaching company Pivotal Computer
Systems in San Francisco. “This is a cultural change. This forces them to be social creatures . . . with saner lives.”

At the heart of the new method is pair programming. Software developers code together on one computer, passing
the keyboard back and forth. Arguments sometimes erupt, but programmers say teamwork leads to higher
productivity and better software.

The programming philosophy, formulated in the 1999 book “Extreme Programming Explained” by software rock star
Kent Beck, is gaining popularity at start-ups as well as at large, established companies like Hewlett-Packard and
Qwest Communications. More than 30 Web sites are devoted to Extreme Programming (pro and con) and groups like
Bay AreaXP exchange e-mail and meet offline. There are thousands of software engineers in the Bay Area using
some form of XP, which is not related to Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system.

If XP gains a toehold in Silicon Valley — home to the largest concentration of software engineers in the country — it
could help XP gain credibility worldwide. While XP principles are used in tech centers around the globe, it’s not yet
broken into the mainstream.

“Silicon Valley tends to have thought leadership in the programming world,” says Mee, who began using XP in the
mid-1990s with Beck.

The method is one of a handful of approaches to development called Agile Programming, which aims to make
software coding more responsive.

Those baptized in Extreme Programming extol its malleability. XP values simplicity and software that’s exactly what
the customer ordered, rather than the complex and elegant code common to traditional software development.

Those who scoff at XP say it’s a corner-cutting method that lacks upfront “documentation” to map out what the team
will build.

“Upfront design is synonymous with thinking ahead,” says Matt Stephens, a developer from the United Kingdom who
runs a site critical of XP. “By de-emphasizing this vital aspect of software development, XP is reduced to a very
myopic approach.”

Stephens, and even some ardent XP users, say productivity can be squelched if programmers constantly work
together.

“You don’t need two programmers for everything, especially if it’s not a new task,” says Alon Salant at San
Francisco-based Carbon Five, which uses XP. “Pair programming reduces the productivity of the most experienced
programmers and increases the productivity of the least experienced.”

Another cultural change is that no one developer “owns” any portion of the code. Knowledge is dispersed among all
engineers. The idea is that esprit de corps replaces pride of code ownership.

Engineering teams meet daily or more often to discuss projects. Fabbrini and Toussaint, part of a five-person team
developing software for Santa Clara County, say teamwork promotes better code.

“You’re not sitting in your cubicle writing lines and lines of code and no one knows what anyone else is doing,” says
Ted Young, architect of the county team for Caribou Lake Software of Minneapolis. “It builds a better product where
everybody has knowledge of every aspect.”

But programming in pairs is the most difficult aspect for many to accept. Even for XP die-hards like Edward Hiett,
programming with someone looking over your shoulder remains disconcerting.

“Programming is a very creative process and requires a lot of concentration. It’s natural to want to go away and do it
by yourself,” says Hiett, who works for San Francisco-based Evant, where all programmers work in pairs. “With
pairing, you have to give up control.”

Many women gravitate to XP precisely for its teamwork.

“XP resolves that issue that women don’t like: working by yourself in a cubicle with no interaction,” says Laura Waite,
a freelance developer in San Francisco. “I know lots of women who love XP because of that.”

Those who program in pairs say it’s more productive, intense and exhausting than solo programming. The XP
movement calls for 40-hour work weeks with a pace that is predictable and sustainable.

“A team does not burn itself out by working crazy hours and doing the impossible,” says XP coach Joshua Kerievsky
of Industrial Logic in Berkeley.

XP advocates that customers and developers eliminate miscommunication by having customers on site.

For Caribou’s project with Santa Clara County, three county employees are assigned to work with the developers.
Janel Jannusch, a county liaison, says the constant updates build confidence.

But not all customers want to devote someone full time.

“On-site customer could be seen as the weakest link of XP,” says developer Julio Santos of Alphablox in Mountain
View. “We need an expert to sit with us. The department I’m building this for is not willing to lose that person.”

Despite the challenges, XP is gaining ground. Hewlett-Packard currently has several teams using the method, says
Russell Daniels, general manager of HP’s Applications Development Organization.

“It combines a set of practices that most software developers have used in some ways,” he says.

Not only does XP produce better code, say its adherents, it might also reprogram the geek.

“I’ve changed because of it in myriad ways,” says Hiett. “You learn patience. I’m much more communicative and
much more open. It’s helped with the women too.”

Web sites include http://www.xprogramming.com and http://www.agilemanifesto.org.

Contact K. Oanh Ha at [email protected] or (408) 278-3457.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3164127.htm