Chapter 3: The Case Against XP

Overview

Eight Builds a Week

(Sing to the tune of Eight Days a Week by The Beatles)

Livin in a timebox
Guess you know it s rough
Gotta build every day, babe
Even half-baked stuff

Build it, ship it
Build it, ship it

Ain t got time for design, babe
Eight builds a week

Build it every day, babe
Build it right on time
One thing I can say, babe
No time for design

Refactor it, test it
Build it, ship it
Ain t got time for design, babe
Eight builds a week

Well, so far we ve talked a lot about the dangers of XP, but we haven t yet described exactly why XP is more fragile than agile. Now it s time to put our money where our mouths are! To do this we use the metaphor of a circle of snakes. Then in later chapters, we describe each of these snakes in more detail.