FW: xpAdoption - a rationale

Hi all,

I'm forwarding the "charter" note I wrote for the xpAdoption
list which you can join at
	http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xpAdoption/
or by sending an email to
	mailto:[email protected]
You may want to check out the web site initially, since there
are some discussions already underway.

As mentioned in an earlier note, those of us who have been
working on this idea feel that we in the XP community need
to clarify some things in order to be in a position to
foster wider adoption. Some of those issues are suggested
in the attached note and others will be identified as we
time goes on.

Like any such group, it's nature and purpose is subject to
the will of the members, so feel free to make comments and
suggestions - preferably on the list itself.

Charlie Poole
[email protected]
www.pooleconsulting.com
www.charliepoole.org



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charlie Poole [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 2:56 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: xpAdoption - a rationale
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> This is an attempt at a welcome/rationale for the newly formed
> xpAdoption group, brainchild of a small group of people who
> felt there was a need to be met. I'm putting this together
> based on conversations with those folks and I invite them
> and anyone else to correct, modify or comment.
> 
> Why another XP Group?
> 
> Well, the (main) XP group is there to help people who want 
> to practice XP. One thing we've all discovered is that 
> convincing people - and companies - to do XP is another 
> topic entirely.
> 
> An XC group was set up to try to deal with this by focusing
> on the business side of XP by opening a dialog with "mainstream"
> business people, the ones who won't be early adopters of a
> new approach. This hasn't seemed to work out.
> 
> This list has a more modest aim. Although everyone is welcome, 
> we expect that most participants will be people practicing XP 
> who are interested in the process of getting XP accepted in 
> larger and/or more traditional companies. Of course most in
> the XP world are interested in that result, but in general
> it's only a smaller subgroup who really want to get into the
> messy details of dealing with management to get XP accepted.
> In fact, part of the attraction of XP is that the team 
> generally doesn't have to worry about stuff like that.
> 
> In addition, we hope to engage people in larger and/or 
> traditional companies with a lively interest in adopting
> XP - in other words, the "early adopters" within such 
> companies. These two groups can probably talk to one 
> another because they both tend to include the folks who
> are willing to look at new ways of doing things. The
> more conservative "mainstream" executives are more
> likely to be influenced by the success of these early
> adopters than by anything we can say at this point,
> although we may learn some new ways of presenting XP
> through the participation of the early adopters.
> 
> So what do we talk about? Anything relevant to the process 
> of wider XP adoption is fair game. I have a few ideas:
> 
> 1. Are there any practices in XP that _can't_ work in
> certain environments. If so, do we cross those kinds
> of environments off as potential customers? Or are there
> ways to modify or substitute without destroying the spirit
> and integrity of XP? 
> 
> 2. What are the minimum requirements for management in order
> to provide fertile ground for XP? What kinds of management 
> approaches and practices are needed before it's reasonable 
> to even try? How does one present these requirements to 
> potential customers of XP?
> 
> 3. What does it mean to see XP adopted in a company? We're
> generally accustomed to talking about one project at a time.
> Do we want companies as a whole to adopt XP? If so, what
> do we mean by that? Will XP then become a process imposed
> on all their development teams on a top-down basis?
> 
> 4. What is the relationship of XP to projects that are 
> not primarily carried out by writing code? Is COTS integration
> something that fits the XP model? Or is it only able to
> take pieces of XP? Or is XP merely a metaphor for what
> people in this domain are able to do?
> 
> 5. What about the language/style of XP? That's an obstacle 
> to some people. My own position has been something like 
> "I got over it, you should too" but maybe that's not a 
> recipe for success. How does one describe XP in a way that 
> makes various kinds of executives willing to hear it. Are
> we at fault for "sugar-coating" XP when we do that? 
> 
> 6. What kinds of issues are likely to arise from different
> people in the large company environment? Do we need to 
> address general management? IT Management? Specific user
> groups? How does our approach change for each group?
> 
> These are some of the issues that come to mind right off
> the bat. They'll probably lead to others. 
> 
> Finally, a word about the communication style we'd like to
> see on this list.
> 
> We believe that discussion and learning are fostered by 
> recognizing the value of different contributions, offering
> opinions politely even when they are passionately held, 
> arguing the issues rather than addressing personalities.
> 
> We don't want to limit the conversations to a watered-down
> pseudo-rational exercise in polite chitchat, so we expect
> that disagreements will arise and - yes - offense will be
> given or taken. We encourage those who hear offense to 
> think twice before taking it and to ask the "offender" to
> clarify what they said when there is doubt. We encourage
> those who find they have given offense to step back and
> rephrase their point, rather than letting the discussion
> be about the fact that offense was taken. We expect this
> to happen very naturally, because it's the way the XP list
> works - at least when it's working.
> 
> Ron Jeffries and Charlie Poole are the moderators but we
> don't take that as meaning we should be the only ones to
> moderate discussions. We hope that members who see trouble 
> brewing will step in to cool things down. We're confident 
> that will happen. We've seen it happen in this community.
> 
> Charlie Poole
> [email protected]
> www.pooleconsulting.com
> www.charliepoole.org
> 
> 


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