Extreme Programming (XP)

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Extreme Programming (XP) is an agile software development framework that aims to produce higher quality software, and higher quality of life for the development team. XP emphasizes team work. Managers, customers, and developers are all part of a team dedicated to delivering quality software. It adv…

Guide and Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Extreme Programming (XP)

Extreme Programming (XP) is an agile software development framework that aims to produce higher-quality software, and higher quality of life for the development team. XP is very useful because it emphasizes customer satisfaction and promotes teamwork.

What is Extreme Programming?
Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology that is designed to improve the quality of software and its ability to properly adapt to the changing needs of the customer or client. Its key features include user stories, frequent releases in short development cycles, and programming in pairs.

How does it work?
XP works by having teams work in iterative cycles that are customer driven. The client is always involved, providing feedback, clarifying requirements, and setting priorities. It is the team's responsibility to estimate, schedule and implement stories. XP also emphasizes on simplicity and clarity with the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Extreme Programming (XP)
When answering questions on Extreme Programming in an exam, bear in mind that XP revolves around simplicity, communication, feedback, and courage. Questions may be around describing XP practices, or benefits and challenges of implementing XP. Remember, always relate your answers to these key principles and practices of XP. Also, understanding how XP fits into the Agile framework will be a great plus.

Note: Examples always make your answers stronger. Whenever applicable, provide examples to reinforce your points or in explaining paint points in implementing XP.

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PSM I - Extreme Programming (XP) Example Questions

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Question 1

In your XP project, you are encountering increasing complexity due to multiple code iterations. The development pace is slowing. What should you do?

Incorporate continuous integration to detect and resolve issues early. Increase the sprint length to provide more time for dealing with complexities. Conduct a sprint review after every two iterations to evaluate the codebase and make necessary adjustments. This approach allows the team to regularly assess their progress, identify any complexities early on, and amend their strategy as needed. While this method introduces periodic checkpoints for reflection and adjustment, it does not directly tackle the immediate slowing of the development pace due to code complexity. Assign a dedicated team to address code complexity independently from the development team.

Correct Answer: Incorporate continuous integration to detect and resolve issues early.

Incorporating continuous integration helps in early detection and resolution of issues, maintaining the development pace. Increasing the sprint length might temporarily alleviate pressure but doesn't address the root cause of complexity. Assigning a dedicated team diverts resources and could introduce communication overhead without ensuring complexity is reduced in the main development effort. Regular sprint reviews are a good practice but more frequent and targeted actions, like continuous integration, are necessary to specifically address code complexity issues and maintain development velocity.

Question 2

You are following an XP model for a software project. Suddenly the client demands a chunk of complex features mid-project which might overshadow the existing scheduled tasks. How should you handle this?

Assign additional resources to work exclusively on the new features, ensuring they are developed in parallel with the original project plan. This could involve hiring new staff or reallocating current team members from their tasks. Immediately update the project documentation to reflect the addition of the new features and adjust the project plan accordingly without client consultation. Prioritize the new features along with the existing backlog items in collaboration with the client to assess their impact on the schedule and product value. Suggest breaking down the complex features into smaller, more manageable parts and incorporating them into the current sprints without reprioritizing existing tasks.

Correct Answer: Prioritize the new features along with the existing backlog items in collaboration with the client to assess their impact on the schedule and product value.

In a situation where new features are requested mid-project, the correct approach is to engage with the client to prioritize these features along with existing backlog items. This collaborative effort helps determine their impact on the project schedule and overall value of the product, ensuring that decisions are made with a full understanding of the implications. Updating the project plan without client input, adding tasks without adjusting the priority of the existing backlog, or allocating additional resources without considering the overall project cohesion and team capacity can lead to project delays, increased costs, and reduced product quality.

Question 3

In an XP environment, the team has noticed a definitive reduction in performance. Upon review, you discover that the issue is due to an older piece of code that wasn't appropriately refactored. What should be your next step?

Schedule a dedicated session to refactor the problematic code, incorporating the team for a collaborative effort. Prioritize a sprint goal focused solely on technical debt reduction across the entire codebase, diverting from immediate feature development. Implement a continuous integration tool to automatically detect similar issues in the future, without addressing the current performance drop. Organize a code review session for the entire team to analyze the performance impact and identify potential areas outside the problematic code that might need refactoring, thus diverting immediate attention from the core issue. This will not only address the current problem but also enhance the team's understanding and learning of the system architecture and coding practices.

Correct Answer: Schedule a dedicated session to refactor the problematic code, incorporating the team for a collaborative effort.

In an Extreme Programming (XP) environment, continuous improvement and excellence in coding are highly valued principles. When a performance issue arises due to unrefactored code, the immediate and most effective action is to schedule a session dedicated to refactoring the problematic code. This ensures that the quality of the codebase is maintained and improves performance without unnecessarily halting feature development or diverting resources to less urgent tasks. The wrong answers, while potentially helpful in different contexts, either delay addressing the immediate problem, focus too broadly, or introduce new processes that do not solve the current issue directly.

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