Extreme Programming Pocket Guide

Foreword by Ward Cunningham

This is the most important Extreme Programming book written to date. It is the most complete and concise definition of the words all Extreme Programmers use to describe what they do. Until now, those wishing to understand Extreme Programming had to piece together the lore of the movement from innovative but now overly voluminous sources. This was as it should be then, but is not so now. The community has grown to where it needs this book and it has appeared.

Extreme Programming's roots start with a few people on a few projects taking a fresh look at what they do. It could have been any number of such small groups. The ideas of Extreme Programming have been invented over and over. But one group took advantage of the unique properties of the world wide web to articulate, refine and expand their ideas in an ever enlarging community. 

My own web site, the Portland Pattern Repository's WikiWikiWeb, gave voice to this community at its founding. Wiki lets readers become writers and trusts writers to organize their writing to meets their own needs. The result is a collection of terms that have very precise and universally accepted meaning even though they may not appear so at first glance. 

That is why we need this book now. Our movement is blessed with a wonderful series of books that explains the counterintuitive logic of the methods from every perspective. These books served the second generation of Extreme Programmers who were willing to buck the prevailing wisdom in order to get to a better place. But now Extreme Programming is becoming the prevailing wisdom and not every convert wants to relive its founding. Not every participant has time. We're going to need stacks of this book.

This is the guide for you, the third generation of Extreme Programmers. You may not even realize you are one. You probably chose Extreme Programming based on its reputation. You don't need to be convinced, but you do need to understand. Be you sponsor, manager, customer, tester, user or developer, if you are on an Extreme Programming project then you are an Extreme Programmer. Welcome to the team. Here is your handbook. Now lets get to work.

Ward Cunningham
Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc.