RE: Summing up and moving on (I hope)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: J. B. Rainsberger [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 7:06 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [XC] Summing up and moving on (I hope)
> I recognize the need to change our message to make it sweeter 
> to the ears of our intended audience. I don't know how to do 
> that. Will you help me do that for one of these aspects of XP 
> that I'm trying to market? Arbitrarily, I select "Ongoing 
> Customer Feedback". Are you willing to start that discussion 
> on this group right now?

Most organisations will have ways to gather customer feedback.  That kind of
approach will, at least in my context, not work.  More horror, the
development organisation will probably say that what they get as feedback is
not the feedback they need.

Perhaps the emphasis should be on "Enabling the organisation to control
development cost and maximising customer value".
Ongoing customer feedback, as you put it, is a way to control development
cost, but so are the development/customer tests, the pair programming, etc.
Maximising customer value is achieved by the stories, planning games, early
and frequent deliveries, simplest as possible approach, ...

I may be wrong, but at least it is how I perceive I can sell XP to my
organisation (that is at the right moment, in the right environment, etc)

I always found it useful to think about what I want to communicate.  I want
to communicate a goal, an objective, something the business can benefit
from.  Then I try to think about alternatives/means of getting there, one
element at a time because change is difficult and costly in large
organisations.
> 
> >(5) For any change to take place a "felt need" is first 
> necessary. Without
> >this need the message is left at the door. Once this need is 
> felt, it must
> >be "internalized," that is the need must be turned into an 
> internal source
> >of action. Arriving at the door with a solution for the need 
> without an
> >internal recognition that the need can be fulfilled 
> "externally" leaves the
> >message at the door again (not invited in).
> 
> This is where I am different, and in a way that is consistent 
> with the XP philosophy. When I'm stuck, I ask for help, 
> rather than wait until I've tried everything I could possibly 
> try first. I ask for help, I hang around to help solve the 
> problem, I learn, then I become the expert next time. Am I 
> wrong to conclude that this trait is rare among C-level and 
> B-level folks?

For some people there is personal pride in finding a solution.  I agree that
for some people this pride plays a too important role but we should not deny
that this pride exists and that is also creates a sense of achievement.
Thinking takes time, sometimes it seems like I'm stuck but giving it some
time to digest, I often get through with an acceptable solution.  When my
maturity increases it will get easier to judge whether I'm really stuck or
just spending time thinking.  As my maturity grows, there will be more
things I can try.
Now, apart from the trivial problems, how do you know that you get the help
you need when you ask for it?  Who do you rely on and why?
Asking for help can also be seen as a risk mitigation strategy because you
don't have to take ownership of the solution (unless it works ;-) ).
There isn't a black and white answer to your question I'm afraid.

Thinking again about your reply.  What are the C and B level folks doing.
They invite people that can provide "Help".  They will invite different
people with different backgrounds, balance the
objectives/motives/alternatives/justifications they get with their own
objectives/... and decide.

Perhaps they are doing what you advocate already?  But perhaps they don't
wait until they are stuck.  They try to improve before they get stuck
because I think that is the trick.  I think XP would be bigger if somehow
they had a gradual process of improvement.  What I see as a problem with XP
is that it is advocated as an all or nothing approach.  It should be
scalable, it should be adaptable, and it should be about contininuous
improvement.

If XP is about embracing change, how much has XP changed in the years that
it has been around?

Regards, Stefan Steurs.


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