Introducing XP—XP Practice 2: Sit Together

Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Visual C# (CSharp, C Sharp, C-Sharp) Developer Training, Visual Studio

XP Practice 2: Sit Together

Putting the team together in the same work area is an implied XP practice that we are adding explicitly to make it clear that it is a best practice. A core value of XP is communication, preferably face-to-face. In XP, creating large, open areas where the development team can work together facilitates this. Sitting together also supports feedback, because developers and customers can talk to each other without needing to track each other down. Additionally, sitting together discourages distributed teams. (XP projects experimenting with distributed teams have had different degrees of success.)

At first, this work area may seem counterproductive because of the increased noise level and perceived distractions. This is a common fear, but don’t give in to it. Adjustment to the noise level is very quick (hours to a few days), and any perceived distractions will quickly disappear.