eXtreme Programming (‘XP’) is an agile software engineering methodology. There is a lot in ‘XP’ that can be applied to the wider ‘KM’ imitative. In particular the practices of Pair Programming, User Stories and eXtreme Planning all work because they are driven by the knowledge of the people involved.

On Pair Programming:

Put two people together, and you’ll get more than twice as many ways to solve a problem. Each person will have his or her own ideas (there’ll be some overlap), plus some half-baked ideas he or she wouldn’t normally think hard about, plus the completed ideas of the other person, plus ideas sparked by their other person’s, plus … it adds up fast … Two people working together in a pair treat their shared time as more valuable. They tend to cut phone calls short; they don’t check e-mail messages or favorite Web pages; they don’t waste each others time. … Two people working together will have their shared time treated by others as more valuable. If I’m sitting at my computer, or just staring into space (thinking hard!), no one will think twice about interrupting me. On the other hand, if I’m busily working with someone, anyone who needs me will interrupt me briefly if at all.1

Footnotes

  1. Source: eXtreme Programming Wiki