Learning from Experience: The Analysis of an Extreme Programming Process

A software development process is required not only to guide and structure the development activity but at the same time it should allow improvement in the process itself. Agile development methodologies are said to be flexible and adaptive to the context in which these are applied. This flexibility and adaptability makes experimentation with the process more plausible and opens new ways to learn by experience. This paper is based on the theoretical analysis of an extreme programming (XP) process deployed to develop a multimedia streaming application for mobile phones. It presents the steps taken to initiate the development process, its setup and the continuous review of the process in order to find the best suited way to perform the practices which are needed for a software development activity, as well as, workable for the development team. The paper gives a detailed account of the implementation, analysis and the adjustment of the individual XP practices in order to emphasize how the development team has learned to shape the XP process according to the organization and the project context in which it is applied.