Extreme Programming Installed

Reference:
Extreme Programming Installed
Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, Chet Hendrickson
2001 Addison-Wesley

Chapter 10

Summary:Once the tasks for a given story have been decided, a short design session should be held.  This session should act to eliminate any doubts on what needs to be accomplished for the stories.

Discussion:
Makes sense.  A short design session will help to clarify what a task entails.

Chapter 11

Summary:
Since a programming team shares all of the code they write, it is important to have a coding standard that the team follows.  This way there will be less time spent trying to figure out what another member was doing, and more time actually spent coding.  In addition, all the programmers share ownership of the code, so one person can make any needed changes to anothers code.

Discussion:
 I have been in situations before where I needed someone elses code to have some functionality that wasn't there, but I didn't feel comfortable in altering their code without asking them first.  The concept of collective ownership eliminates this problem, so I can see myself making use of it in the future.

Chapter 12

Summary:
Two programmers working together on a common project not only generate more code, but better code. In the end, both programmers have a working knowledge of the subject, instead of each one knowing half of the subject.  Pair Programming is accomplished through having a driver and a partner.  The driver types the code, and the partner actively engages in the development.  The two can switch roles at any point.

Discussion:
 This is something that is new to me.  It sounds like it would be awkward at first, but given enough time I believe I could get used to it.