Extreme Programming
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Extreme Programming for Not Yet Techies

Extreme programming is gaining in popularity with both
programmers and employers.

However, it's not universally popular. Several writers
have written an entire book on its flaws and how to
fix them. Others have compared the concept of
collective code ownership to communism.

One criticism I can fully understand is that of having the
client on-site every day during the project, to make
sure that the program will meet the user's needs.

This is a good idea, but in practice it's obviously
impractical.

In my day job, headquarters sometimes pay for representatives
from the field to go to headquarters and provide feedback
on suggested changes, including programs.

Sounds good, right?

But who are these people who go to headquarters to
representative the interests of the field?

They're office managers NOT us peons who do the
actual work.

My office manager is a great lady to work for but she
does not have to work with the software I have to
to do my job. She just can't relate to the problems
I may have.

And to be fair, I can't relate to the problems of other
workers in my office who do different jobs.

So I have to wonder, when a client company contracts
for a certain piece of software, is the on-site client
rep somebody who's actually going to use that
software on a daily basis?

Most likely not -- those people are kept busy at their
jobs.
- posted by RickStooker @ 9:02 PM (0) comments