XP Bill of Rights

The XP Bill of Rights outlines agile software development priorities.

XP Manifesto

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

XP Software Development

XP expresses its values in a variety of ways, including statements of rights for the various participants. Any XP project should be consistent with these rights. Note that specific time frames may vary from project to project.

Customer rights

• The customer has the right to plan on a large scale with costs and options.
• The customer has the right to set development priorities weekly.
• The customer has the right to see progress in the form of a working system at the end of the first week, and to see a little more functionality every week thereafter.
• The customer has the right to updates of the schedule, good or bad, as soon as the information is available.
• The customer has the right to change his/her mind without paying exorbitant costs.

Programmer rights

• The programmer has the right to estimate work and have those estimates respected by the rest of the team.
• The programmer has the right to honestly report progress.
• The programmer has the right to produce high-quality work at all times.
• The programmer has the right to know what is most important to work on next.
• The programmer has the right to ask business-oriented questions whenever they arise.

Manager rights

• The manager has the right to an overall estimate of costs and results, recognizing that reality will be different.
• The manager has the right to move people between projects without paying exorbitant costs.
• The manager has the right to monthly updates of progress, and to help the customer set overall priorities.
• The manager has the right to cancel the project and be left with a working system reflecting the investment to date.

Any project that denies these rights isn't really an XP project, regardless of whatever label is attached to it.

Related Entries

• CME Project
• Agile Manifesto