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| <mainDescription><p>
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| The goal of a software process is to guide the software development organization to:
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| </p>
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| <ol>
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| <li>
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| Get the right software done.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Get the software done right.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Get the software done quickly.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Get the software done frugally.
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| </li>
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| </ol>
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| <p>
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| There are many approaches to this problem. Some software processes are high in ceremony. They guide the developers to
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| create many artifacts. They punctuate the project with phases and sign-offs. They release infrequently, sometimes
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| solely upon project completion. There is a time and place for such processes.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| On the other hand, the most important and scarce resource in any project is the time of the developers. High ceremony
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| processes fill that time with work activities that center around artifacts and reviews instead of around the core
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| artifacts of code and tests. For many projects this is an exorbitant expense.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| To manage this expense, many projects need a process that uses a minimum of ceremony and concentrates on the core
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| artifacts. They need a feedback-driven process that delivers working software rapidly in quick releases.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| XP is just such a low ceremony process. It is used by those teams and for those projects where ceremony is of little
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| value, but rapid feedback is of high value. Such projects tend to be small to medium sized - fewer than one or two
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| million lines of code - and involve fewer than one or two dozen developers. They tend to exist in environments of
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| intense business and or technical change. They are, of course, exceedingly common.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| A lack of ceremony does not imply a lack of management. XP places a lot of emphasis on techniques for planning,
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| estimation, and schedule management. Creating, maintaining, and managing a project plan is a very big part of XP.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| A lack of ceremony also does not imply a lack of discipline. XP espouses discipline for every facet of the project.
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| There is discipline for testing, integration, planning, reviewing, and for producing software with a high quality
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| internal structure. The goal is to keep the project moving and the software easy to modify, easy to extend, and easy to
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| develop.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| In short, XP puts the emphasis on ensuring that the team is working on the minimum set of activities and artifacts that
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| will produce the right software, built right, built quickly and built frugally.<br />
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| <br />
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| </p></mainDescription> |
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