Xp Is Genius Friendly

There was a time when a coding genius would have to hide from a project to get genius work done. Not so with xp. The genius hangs with the team, taking task cards and pitching in on others. This way a genius gets a good feel for just what sort of invention can be absorbed. To get along, the genius avoids lording superior intellect over others. He/she wouldn't say "I had that idea yesterday", even if it were true. So what fun is this?

The fun begins when a deep problem surfaces. The whole team feels simplicity slipping away and is distressed about it. Genius gears start working. Should the necessary flash of insight fail to come, the genius just keeps pitching in and making sure that the code stays clean enough to absorb insight that might be just around the corner. The genius knows this wait and enjoys it.

Then finally the light comes on. The genius is first to connect the pieces that solve the problem. So what then? Cry eureka? No way.

The genius says something like "I'm thinking we need to spend more time looking at the interaction of x and y." Then the rest of the team has a chance to try their hand at genius. If they are wise enough to look at x and y they will probably see just what the genius has seen and get to bask in the warm light of an original AhHa.

The thing that is really great about this interaction is that it is really safe for the genius. If there is an error of logic, it will be gently exposed without casting doubt on the genius. Also, if there is resistance to the insight, the genius gets to explore it before showing all the cards. Finally, the genius is appreciated by people who now know what genius is like. (Remember, they just had a eureka moment themselves.)

So what is all this about xp making everyone just a cog? Xp is truly genius friendly. And, in case you have any doubt, just think about how the above would work when everyone is a genius. Heck, maybe they are.

-- WardCunningham

I totally agree with the sentiment. This captures for me why the XP team should be "higher performance" than many of us have believed possible in half a lifetime of the SoftwareStruggle?. But it also highlights the human nature and social challenges one is taking on in many organizations.

Despite its often fictional nature will the FreeMarket just be of some real use here, despite the current ImbalanceOfPower? --RichardDrake

This version/level of genius might scare people into not wanting to identify with it. I will for the purpose of the following redefine genius

genius: Person who likes doing the hard bits cos they're fun.

A milder form of Genius can fit in, contribute efficiently, and not get burned by observing the following:

There is no code ownership so each time they come across a unit that needs one more obscure but important test they can add it. They don't have to do all the boring bread and butter stuff they just add the one missing test.
Now that the few percent of extra important but obscure tests have been added they no longer get bitten by other peoples code.
They don't have to write the whole unit or the boring tests they just code and solve the one interesting test case.
Coding at the lowest common denominator of the team is no longer as important because with pairs at least one member will be proficient enough to understand, the simpler but not simplistic ways to do things.
There is no code ownership and people are used to working in pairs so the possibility of blending into and then out of a pair that is stuck is less traumatic for anyones ego.
There is no code ownership so a team can whip up some skeletal functionality and then if there is hard(fun) bit the process allows someone(the genius) to seamlessly step in and do that bit.

-- Sounds good to me. Where do I sign up :) -- AnonymousGenius

This is a great topic and is at the heart of why I love Xp so much. It goes contrary to most of the software development I have experienced with the "lone genius" that no one can bother with questions. There is a better way.

-- Anonymous

This page cued something in me that I wanted to share, though I don't know whether it has to do with being a "genius" or not (I'm always a little dubious about such monikers).

I think RichardDrake said: genius == Person who likes doing the hard bits cos they're fun.

I like this, and have a slightly different spin on it. I have a warped sort of eclectic curiosity about how things work, and especially about how software works (or doesn't). It has been my experience that I can find interesting (to me at least) and "hard" bits in activities that others around me find dull or monotonous. For example, I truly enjoy the testing aspect of Xp. Similarly, I enjoy the class of problems that arise (to me) from attempts to systematize processes of almost any sort. Thus, LaunchScript presents what is, for me, a genuinely fascinating intellectual problem. I don't know if this makes me a "genius" or not (in the sense that Richard means, above), but it means that Xp simply turns me on - I feel that I've found a community of like-minded practitioners, even though I don't know very many.

Some of my friends have suggested that I, and many like me, have a world view that the ancients called "prophet" - as in, for example, the "prophet crying in the wilderness". Names like Moses, Nehemiah, and Ezra come to mind. Sometimes I, rightly or wrongly, "see" things that others don't (yet). I've learned to act on that, rather than hide it. Some have suggested that I am therefore a "genius" (a claim I resist). I don't feel that way - and in fact, most accounts of ancient prophets suggest that they generally resist their "call" as long as possible.

Thus, I find myself asserting that XpIsProphetFriendly?. I also wonder if this world view or mentality accounts for some of the energy (for and against) that we expend on various spiritual disciplines here. We are a self-selecting community, one that by nature is GeniusFriendly? and perhaps ProphetFriendly?. Perhaps we should not, then, be surprised when we find our propensity to hear, speak, and act on our "call" (however we hear it) surfaces here. After all, my first experiences with some of the folks here were during a time when we were all evangelizing for the Macintosh, for Smalltalk, for ObjectOriented, for UserInterface, and a whole pile of related ideas. Not to mention patterns.

-- TomStambaugh

I find your description of being a SoftwareProphet very interesting, since I've often found myself in that situation. (But I've never heard such a good description of it before.) I'd be interested to hear others' stories about being a SoftwareProphet.

-- Anonymous Prophet