Now, I don't know too much about Xtreme programming, but I know some people that have been part of such a 'scheme' where they work. The planning and design stages might have some good points to them, but I'm mostly against the actual programming stage in Xtreme Prg.

Where my friends work, two people share a computer. One of them is responsible for the actual coding (typing), and the other sits besides him, throwing in ideas and keeping time-plans. I suppose it is good to have two people thinking about the same problem, as they might find a better solution to a problem, but I believe that keeping such strict time plans when writing software (or firmware) can lead to programmers 'cutting corners' to make their deadlines. Some times you just have to sit down and think through a problem for a while to come up with the best possible programmatic solution.

If I _BUY_ a piece of software I expect it not to have too many bugs. Big software companies will often set a release date, and adhere to this date wether they've got all the bugs out or not. Xtreme programming might be beneficial to some stages of the product development, but If you don't use it correctly I believe there is a danger of ending up with a product that is not as good as i could be...

Øyvind