Three AntiPractices while teaching Agile Methods
Alexandre Freire, Fábio Kon, Alfredo Goldman · 2007
This article gives educators and consultants some insight into three very simple and common problems, when one tries to introduce XP to a develop- ment team or teach it in a University: the Bootstrap, Personality and antipractices. Bootstrap describes how teams learning XP have difficulties when starting a project with little or no code base. Split Person- ality describes the difficult task one has to endure when assuming both the Coach and Customer roles in an XP team. Abandon Complex describes problems that arise when a coach has to leave his/her team. We present these organizational antipatterns as antipractices we have identified while (1) teaching XP in the con- text of an XP laboratory course in the University of S ˜ ao Paulo, (2) an experience helping a start-up transition to XP and (3) another transition in a governmental project. We discuss various simple solutions to the antipatterns based on reflec- tions from these experiences and describe concrete situations where they were effective.