Matt Stephens

Originally posted by Ilja Preuss:
OK, so let's examine http://www.bad-managers.com/Features/soapbox/xp.shtml:

Again, most (if not all) of your comments are answered in the "Ron's Rebuttal" page, linked to from the above URL. I hope you'll forgive me if I don't repeat the answers here.

There is also a cost involved in not being able to reshape the system to new needs. There is a cost involved in not being able to hold complexity to minimum as the system evolves. There is a big cost involved in trying to analyze the whole big system in detail up front.

XP definitely has some good ideas (borrowed from conventional methodologies, as Kent Beck admits) - unit/acceptance testing, keeping it simple, coding by intention, etc.
I can write simple, maintainable code, with well-defined interfaces, sub-systems and components, without resorting to XP. Making changes is easy, because we did a big design up front.

XP assumes that with modern tools and techniques, the cost of reshaping the system pays back manyfold.

As Kent Beck asserts in XP Explained, pretty much all of XP's benefits rest on his claim that XP can flatten the cost-of-change curve. It's this claim that I find the most dubious.
Sure, the cost of adding new functionality may be "flattened" (or even decrease as the project progresses), but this is very different from actually making functional changes (not just refactoring). Where classes have grown to be dependent on each other, there will inevitably be a cost penalty in changing a user story and all the classes that implement it. However minimal the change, it still isn't "free".
Regards,
Matt.

Thanks for the feedback Ilja.
The article you were looking for is here:
http://www.bad-managers.com/Features/soapbox/xp.shtml
Most of the issues you raised are actually answered in this follow-up:
http://www.bad-managers.com/Features/soapbox/xp_ronsrebuttal.shtml
Regards,
Matt.

Originally posted by Ilja Preuss:
[B]I can't find the latest XP article anymore. I will just start at http://www.bad-managers.com/rumours/xp/extreme-programming.shtml

Ill-informed? Which part? This seems to be a common reaction from XPites - dismiss the article with a wave of the hand, without explaining why.
I'm fully prepared to update the article based on constructive criticism - the article says as much.
Regards,
Matt.

Originally posted by Ilja Preuss:
It could be refreshing if they were not so ill-informed.

http://www.bad-managers.com
Humorous website about software projects done badly. Updated every week with new stories and articles.

You may be interested in a feature currently going on at the Bad Managers website.
Although most people seem to accept XP, Bad Managers are taking an opposing viewpoint. Makes a refreshing change!
Regards,
Matt.

Originally posted by Tad Takahashi:
I chose eXtreme Programming as my topic.
I thought that it would be a good idea to start a new discussion
here about it.