Making Decisions the Extreme Programming Way

One of the key thoughts if you want to implement extreme programming is that there are two types of decisions.

First, you have business decisions. What features are most needed? What brings the highest value to the business?

Second, we have technical decisions. How are the features implemented in the project?

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Each of these decisions is made by a different person. Clients make the business decisions and developers make the technical decisions. They each have no final say in the others decisions.

Don’t Let Your Clients Make Technical Decisions

For you that means, be the expert you are. If a client comes to you and says that they need WooCommerce, and you know from experience that it won’t solve their problems you have a requirement to say no.

If they insist, walk away. They’re going to be upset anyway when it doesn’t fulfill their requirements properly. When the issues you saw coming happen, you’re going to get blamed for them.

You’re the expert in your field. You make the decisions about how to achieve the results they need.

If you’re letting a client drive those decisions, you’re not an expert. You’re a hired set of fingers that types for them. You’re replaceable and not very valuable.

That’s why they don’t listen to you.

That’s why you can’t charge much.

No one views your experience as worth very much.

It’s time to change that.

Have an awesome day!

Curtis

PS: If you’re looking to start mastering your field, I wrote a book on how to get that process going. Or join me for BootCamp and we can work through how to get you recognized as an expert.

Photo by: julochka

Making Decisions the Extreme Programming Way was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.