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2.3. Modifying Scrum and XP

Scrum and XP (extreme programming), like all methodologies, are wonderful things, but one immediate drawback for you right now, as you read this book, is that you're probably a lone programmer or work with a very small team. If so, you may be thinking that these approaches provide too much overhead even for you, and in some ways, you might be right. However, one of the great strengths of any Agile methodology is that it can be adapted to your needs.

The rest of this chapter is devoted to walking you through an Agile methodology for gathering requirements, planning your work, and getting started on the actual work. This basic modification has been refined by various "lone gun" programmers and has seen lots of success with typical web development projects. The example provided throughout the rest of this chapter assumes that you are working as a solo entrepreneur with a single small business owner. As you continue through this chapter, you should consider how you might tailor the information presented here to fit your specific needs. However, the basic approach to the methodology is applicable to many different-sized teams in various situations.

Because the goal of this book is to build a series of web tools (shopping cart, newsletter tool, others), there's no time like the present to start the process. Accordingly, the rest of this chapter focuses on gathering the requirements needed for the projects in the book.