Re: Six Sigma and XP Estimation / Planning

Bill, Thanks for the introduction.   I have to admit that I'm a 
complete novice in terms of XP, and I wonder if someone can 
help me with either a brief overview of XP and Extreme 
Customering, or perhaps a tutorial on it that I might be able to 
access on the web.

I don't even understand yet the relationship between XP and 
Extreme Customering - whether these are synonyms, or whether 
Extreme Customering is part of XP or vice versa.

I look forward to discussing the possible convergence of Six 
Sigma and Extreme Customering and/or XP, and I hope you will 
be patient with me as I try to gain familiarity with the concepts 
and terminology of XP.

Best regards,
Eric Maass


--- In [email protected], "Bill Walton" 
<[email protected]> wrote:
> We're joined now by a real Six Sigma guru.  His name is Eric 
Maass.  Eric is Director of Technology Strategy for Motorola's 
Wireless and Broadband Systems Group.  At the same time, he 
is Chairman of the Six Sigma Black Belts Steering Committee for 
Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector.   He has a web page 
at http://www.geocities.com/ecmaass/ for anyone who wants to 
check out his CV.  In a conversation with another 6S guru who 
hasn't had time to join us I was told "I think you hit the nail on the 
head. The future is really in a balanced mix of XP and Six Sigma."  
So I have some high hopes that, in talking with Eric, we may find 
that XP has an ally in 6S that could bridge some communication 
gaps with organizations that are doing 6S, or at least think highly 
of it, but who don't know as much about XP.
> 
> I posed a question earlier about whether / to what extent XP 
would find support for it's estimating / planning practices in a Six 
Sigma environment.  In particular, I'm wondering about the 
practice of committing to a velocity for iteration X that's equal to 
the velocity achieved in iteration X-1.  As I said earlier, I have a 
feeling that could be perceived as "shooting low."  I wonder if 
6S's statistical underpinnings might recommend a different 
approach that wouldn't put any more pressure on the 
development team re: unrealistic committments but, at the same 
time, answer this question plus the question about whether / 
how many stories should be estimated and in the queue in case 
the team accomplishes more than initially committed in an 
iteration.  I also tend to think XP's practice of picking a "best 
guess" at an initial velocity and then adjusting based on actual 
results (as opposed to trying to develop a long term timeline that 
will be difficult to adjust, etc.) may find support in 6S in the 
context of establishing a baseline.
> 
> Eric is new to XP and has expressed a need to come up to 
speed on the practices and the terminology.  I thought it would 
be best, since practices are evolving, since there seems to be 
some variation in practice, and since I'm still researching XP as 
opposed to actually doing it, to ask you guys to explain the 
estimating / planning practices you use.  Or, if you like, I could 
explain it as I understand it from my readings and talking to you 
here and let you correct me as necessary.
> 
> Best regards,
> Bill



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