eXTREEMEEEEE programming isn’t even anything new, despite its creators’ claims to the contrary. It’s standard project management with a new name, a self-help get-rich-quick feel, and tons of exuberant Xs everywhere. The so-called new methodologies seem to have been ripped off from the group that wrote all the code for the space shuttle or any other group that writes software where a bug literally means somebody’s death.

This isn’t to say that Xtreme programming’s teachings are wrong. On the contrary, setting realistic goals, testing, and eliminating overtime does wonders for ensuring bugs are kept to a minimum. In fact Xtreme programming is one of the few programming methodologies that Gets Things Right by stating that it is more about organization and process management, not about mangling programming languages.

Still, one can’t help but notice that Xtreme programming takes things to an extreme. It’s most vocal adherents are indistinguisable from religous zealots. They shun those that take a lightweight form of XP, which I suppose would best be called NORMAL programming. Taking anything to extremes is nothing more than being inflexible and irreceptive to change. While it is claimed XP can be changed when necessary, altering the rules turns XP into something else.

Look at it this way. When has anything with exuberant Xs or the word extreme been anything but rehashed garbage or marketing hype?