XP2e - Interplay among practices

[Dakshinamurthy Karra]

Kent,

In the first edition of XP we have a section on interplay between
practices and how each one reinforces the other and overcome of the
shortcomings of other. In second edition that information is not
available.

XP2e mentions that the primary practices can be safely practiced and
the teams can get benefit out of it. I dont doubt the efficacy of
these practices. However, is it not necessary to understand the
interplay among practices for someone to effectively make use of a
single practice?

Thanks and Regards
KD

[Kent Beck]

I just put together a tabular chart with all the practices listed along the
left side and along the top. I put an X at the intersection if the practice
on the left directly supports the practice on top. I came up with 167 points
where one practice directly supports another.

The biggest surprises to me were:
* I don't see how pair programming directly supports any practices except
test-first programming, incremental design, and energized work. I still have
the intuition that pairing is very important, but that didn't show up
looking at the practices this way.

Which practices affect each other is not an accurate measure of the import
to the project as a whole. For example, pair programming has a huge impact
on both individual and team confidence which can make or break a project.
Yet confidence is not on this practice interaction chart. How practices are
related to the princles of XP are also not represented.

* Almost every practice supports energized work.

* Root-cause analysis directly support 12 practices, far more than any of
the other corollary practices.

* Several of the corollary practices are supported directly by very few
other practices: single code base--2, pay-per-use--1, team continuity--0,
shrinking teams--3, daily deployment--4.

Looking at the practices this way took me about an hour. It helped cement my
understanding of the practices as a whole. I recommend the exercise to those
who want similar understanding. I'm frustrated that I can't think of an
effective way to display this graphically, however.

To answer your final question, I think you can use individual practices in
isolation. Each one helps. They improve exponentially with the support of
other practices, but I think it is better to do something to improve the
situation today than wait for "full" understanding before you start.
Understanding comes from experience. I wouldn't have seen the same
connections in today's chart that I would have seen five years ago, and I
expect if I do it again in five years I'll get different answers again.

Kent Beck
Three Rivers Institute

-----Original Message-----
From: Dakshinamurthy Karra [mailto:technovator-***@public.gmane.org]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 8:34 PM
To: xpbookdiscussiongroup-***@public.gmane.org
Subject: [xpe2e] XP2e - Interplay among practices


Kent,

In the first edition of XP we have a section on interplay between
practices and how each one reinforces the other and overcome of the
shortcomings of other. In second edition that information is not
available.

XP2e mentions that the primary practices can be safely practiced and
the teams can get benefit out of it. I dont doubt the efficacy of
these practices. However, is it not necessary to understand the
interplay among practices for someone to effectively make use of a
single practice?

Thanks and Regards
KD

[banshee858]

Post by Kent Beck
Looking at the practices this way took me about an hour. It helped
cement my understanding of the practices as a whole. I recommend the
exercise to those who want similar understanding. I'm frustrated that
I can't think of an effective way to display this graphically,
however.

Have you tried a radar chart?

Carlton

[Kent Beck]

Carlton,

I don't know how I would apply a radar chart to the problem of showing how
the practices interact. Do you have a suggestion or example?

Kent Beck
Three Rivers Institute

Post by Kent Beck
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: [xpe2e] XP2e - Interplay among practices

Post by Kent Beck
Looking at the practices this way took me about an hour. It helped
cement my understanding of the practices as a whole. I recommend the
exercise to those who want similar understanding. I'm

frustrated that

Post by Kent Beck
I can't think of an effective way to display this graphically,
however.

Have you tried a radar chart?
Carlton

[banshee858]

Post by Kent Beck
I don't know how I would apply a radar chart to the problem of
showing how the practices interact. Do you have a suggestion or
example?

In your original message you stated this:

"I just put together a tabular chart with all the practices listed
along the left side and along the top. I put an X at the intersection
if the practice on the left directly supports the practice on top. I
came up with 167 points where one practice directly supports another."

I figured you could use that value as a scaling factor to plot
against all the other practices in a radar chart. I believe I was
thinking you could display the relative weight of each practice to
one another as a way to show how they interact - more interaction, a
higher number.

In any event, I posted a completely made up example of what I was
thinking of in the "Files" section as a radar chart and a pie chart.
Maybe this will give you a different perspective?

Carlton

[Kent Beck]

Carlton,

I don't think the number of connections between practices is all that
interesting a measure. The connections themselves seem useful to think
about, however.

Kent Beck
Three Rivers Institute

Post by Kent Beck
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 8:58 AM
Subject: Re: [xpe2e] XP2e - Interplay among practices

Post by Kent Beck
I don't know how I would apply a radar chart to the problem of
showing how the practices interact. Do you have a suggestion or
example?

"I just put together a tabular chart with all the practices listed
along the left side and along the top. I put an X at the intersection
if the practice on the left directly supports the practice on top. I
came up with 167 points where one practice directly supports another."
I figured you could use that value as a scaling factor to plot
against all the other practices in a radar chart. I believe I was
thinking you could display the relative weight of each practice to
one another as a way to show how they interact - more interaction, a
higher number.
In any event, I posted a completely made up example of what I was
thinking of in the "Files" section as a radar chart and a pie chart.
Maybe this will give you a different perspective?
Carlton
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