Customer relationships and Extreme Programming

Abstract

Extreme Programming (XP) brings the customer and development team together into a tight functional unit, while eliminating many of the process activities of more structured software development processes. While agile methods may yield benefits in terms of product cost and quality, there is also a risk that the very practices that make agile methods effective may weaken the customer relationship. This paper examines XP from the perspective of customer satisfaction and motivates the need for more analysis of the social, psychological, and business factors in studies of software development methods.