Agile and XP Development: Promoting At Work

[Gregg Bolinger]

I've been reading up on Agile processes and XP in my spare time. I am starting to see, just from my readings, how these different processes could improve the way our team currently works as well as other teams around me and their projects.

I've been on/through 3 different projects where I currently work and seeing some of the pitfalls we've run into, I am starting to see where some of these processes really could have saved us some headaches. But it's not just about the developers getting on board. It seems like the client really has to be on board for this type of process as well. If this is not the case, someone can set me straight.

My question is, I have no real world experience with agile or XP style development. I only have the knowledge of what I have read thus far. What's the best way that I might be able to implement some agile development styles and/or XP styles into my current work load without having to change the way the entire team works? My hopes are that A) I can gain some working experience and B) I can show the rest of the team how effective it is. Maybe even have them doing some of it and not realizing it, then pointing it out and saying, "Hey, did you realize what you were doing here?"

Anyone have similar experiences they could share or suggestions?

Thanks.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Originally posted by Gregg Bolinger:
Maybe even have them doing some of it and not realizing it, then pointing it out and saying, "Hey, did you realize what you were doing here?"

I think this sums it up nicely. You start with less intrusive practices. For example, writing unit tests first and pair programming. You can do some pair programming by asking people to help you with stuff. Then afterwards, explain why it is so useful. After doing this for a while, I get invited to pair back.

I also started doing daily standups on my project. People seem to like that as it enhances communication.

So even though we aren't doing pure agile development, we are doing a lot more than nothing.