Evolving Tools

Here's an idea for using XP techniques to grow tools to help your team. First, write a story for what you need. Include features, requirements for ease of use and training, compatibility requirements, what kind of support you need, how much you can spend. The customers, of course, also have a stake in this.

Can you meet the needs for acceptance test automation with an open-source tool such as the following?

• JUnit (www.JUnit.org)

• JUnitPerf (www.clarkware.com/software/JUnitPerf.html)

• HTTPUnit (http://httpunit.sourceforge.net)

• Canoo Web Test (http://webtest.canoo.com/webtest/manual/WebTestHome.html)

These are excellent places to start in any case, and an entire community of XP teams is already involved in adapting and enhancing these tools for specific situations. Someone may already have solved a problem like the one confronting you. If not, enlist help from the rest of the team to evolve the solution in-house.

This could be tricky if you were trying to build something from scratch, but the beauty of open source is, it lets you take up where others have left off. Include a story in the first iteration of the project to make the necessary enhancements, and your problem is solved. Another option is to do a separate project to develop the tool. This can be a great learning experience for a team just starting out with XP. If you assume the customer role in this kind of project, you're going to find out that being a customer isn't all that easy!