XP South of the Equator: An eXPerience Implementing XP in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract. Many have reported successful experiences using XP, but wehave not yet seen many experiences adapting agile methodologies in developing countries such as Brazil. In a developing economy, embracing change is extremely necessary. This paper relates our experience successfully introducing XP in a start-up company in Brazil. We will cover our adaptations of XP practices and how cultural and economical aspects of the Brazilian society affected our adoption of the methodology. We will discuss how we managed to effectively coach a team that had little or no previous skill of the technologies and practices adopted. We will also cover some new practices that we introduced mid-project and some practices we believe emerged mostly because of Brazilian culture. The lessons we learned may be applicable in other developing countries.

Software development in startup companies: A systematic mapping study

“…Several authors reported on advantages of constant code refactoring: ensuring readability and understandability of the code [82], improving modularity [80] and providing discipline to developers [93]. On the other hand, introducing refactoring may cause problems since developers had no or little experience [63] and they didn't see immediate value in introducing high level abstractions [67]. In the case study described by Ambler [91], an initial lack of refactoring led to the need of re-implementing the whole system after the number of users had grown drastically.…”

“…In the case study described by Ambler [91], an initial lack of refactoring led to the need of re-implementing the whole system after the number of users had grown drastically. Finally some authors reported work practices related to deployment claiming that some software teams deploy manually the code on the infrastructure [67] while others rely on continuous integration tools [93].…”

“…Furthermore we distinguish between studies focused on specific tools and technologies (e.g. use of post-it notes [67]) and work focused on managerial/organizational aspects in startups (e.g. operate in crossfunctional settings [19]).…”

“…In this context, fast releases with an iterative and incremental approach shorten the lead time from idea conception to production with fast deployment [93]. The benefits of having weekly releases and frequent build cycles, addressing the uncertainty of the market, has been further reported by Blank [29], Tingling [80], Ambler [91] and Silva [67].…”

“…However, the market-driven nature of the requirements demands for alternatives. For example, startups can use scenarios in order to be able to identify requirements in the form of user stories [67] and estimate the effort for each story [82]. In scenarios and in similar product-usage simulations, an imaginary customer can be represented by an internal member of the company [80].…”