Description of the Context of the Experience

The focus company for this research was SECURETRADING (ST), a medium-sized software company committed to implementing XP. ST comprised a team of nine developers committed to implementing XP in a progressive manner while conscious of the need to minimize disruption to the business process. (Reference material from companies, not specifically named in this work, is used in general terms to highlight some typical problems facing established companies. Traditional companies are those companies sensitive to their compartmentalized developer environment, fearful of disruption to key programmer staff members and control issues of looming production deadlines.)

When research began, ST had recently moved to larger offices, and their experience of XP consisted of some intermittent attempts at pairing developers. The relocation presented opportunities for improving the XP environment, reinforcing pairing proficiency, and selectively adopting XP practices. Flexibility in XP enables companies to cherry-pick those practices they regard suitable for implementation, in the order they see that best benefits their particular business environment.