Xp For Capitalists

KentBeck hosted a tutorial at XpUniverse (2001) titled "XP For Capitalists."

XP makes it possible for software-sensitive businesses to make more money. Discuss.

This tutorial consisted mostly of a presentation by HakanErdogmus from the National Research Council of Canada*. He described basic economic theory and option pricing, and tied it in with ExtremeProgramming. His point seemed to be that an incremental approach to software development is economically more sound than a single-iteration waterfall approach due to the options it gives you.

I was disappointed by this tutorial. Part of the disappointment was due to not knowing what I signed up for... at the time I signed up (right at the discount deadline), no description was available. As a result, I signed up based on KentBeck's name alone, figuring that his insights into XP would be interesting, whatever they might be.

Instead, HakanErdogmus presented. Kent spent most of his time in the background. Hakan's presentation was interesting, don't get me wrong -- but it wasn't useful to me. I'm not an economist, and can't convincingly sell XP based on economic theory. Most of Hakan's presentation was about basic economics, so I suspect it wouldn't have been particularly valuable to an economist, either.

I had specifically not chosen Hakan's tutorial because I didn't feel that it would be valuable. Tutorials cost extra, and as a result, I'm annoyed about the bait and switch. I feel that this tutorial would have been best done as a workshop, with a pointer to Hakan's tutorial as a prerequisite or supporting information.

Perhaps this isn't the place to air my grievances. Feel free to edit or delete, if you must... but let me know that you did, and why. --JimLittle

(*)HakanErdogmus edited the part that described him as an economist. Hakan's undergrad is in computer engineering, Master's in computer science and PhD in telecom engineering. He just happens to be interested in engineering economics and financial theory.

[See AnalyzingXpWithOptionsPricing; somewhat related: FinancialEffectsOfIterations]

See also http://www.xp2002.org/talksinfo/zaninotto.pdf for a discussion of XP from an economist's perspective. Turns out that it makes perfect sense :-)