Extreme Programming in a Research Environment

  • William A. Wood
  • William L. Kleb
Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 2418)

Abstract

This article explores the applicability of Extreme Programming in a scientific research context. The cultural environment at a government research center differs from the customer-centric business view. The chief theoretical difficulty lies in defining the customer to developer relationship. Specifically, can Extreme Programming be utilized when the developer and customer are the same person? Eight of Extreme Programming’s 12 practices are perceived to be incompatible with the existing research culture. Further, six of the nine “environments that I know don’t do well with XP” [Beck, 2000] apply. A pilot project explores the use of Extreme Programming in scientific research. The applicability issues are addressed and it is concluded that Extreme Programming can function successfully in situations for which it appears to be ill-suited. A strong discipline for mentally separating the customer and developer roles is found to be key for applying Extreme Programming in a field that lacks a clear distinction between the customer and the developer.

Keywords

XP extreme programming customer scientific application testing research software development process 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002

Authors and Affiliations

  • William A. Wood
    • 1
  • William L. Kleb
    • 1
  1. 1.NASA Langley Research CenterHamptonUSA

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