Values

Paul, the master gardener, has an intuitive sense of what needs to be done next. He knows in his bones what matters and what doesn't. I might think perfectly straight rows are really important. I put a lot of effort into making my rows straight. Along comes Paul and says, "Why are you working so hard at making the rows straight? What you need is more compost." The difference between what I think is valuable and what is really valuable creates waste.

Everyone who touches software development has a sense of what matters. One person might think what really matters is carefully thinking through all conceivable design decisions before implementing. Another might think what really matters is not having any restrictions on his own personal freedom.

As Will Rogers said, "It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know that ain't so." The biggest problem I encounter in what people "just know" about software development is that they are focused on individual action. What actually matters is not how any given person behaves as much as how the individuals behave as part of a team and as part of an organization.

For example, people get passionate about coding style. While there are undoubtedly better styles and worse styles, the most important style issue is that the team chooses to work towards a common style. Idiosyncratic coding styles and the values revealed by them, individual freedom at all costs, don't help the team succeed.

If everyone on the team chooses to focus on what's important to the team, what is it they should focus on? XP embraces five values to guide development: communication, simplicity, feedback, courage, and respect.