David West, Espalier and Agility

I like to re-read this presentation Dave West gave back in 2001, once a year. This paper contains a whole bunch of great material about complexity science, Dorsai, how software development IS reality construction, espalier and how Greece vs. Rome is relevant to software engineering.

There's also a nice slide comparing the Agile Manifesto and Extreme Programming, useful for a client presentation. In case you don't want to read the deck:

1. Agile says: we value individuals and interactions over processes and tools.  XP says: put the individuals together and have them work this way.
2. Agile says: we value working software over comprehensive documentation.  XP says: write software the first day and every day, test the first day and every day, refactor the first day and every day.
3. Agile says: We value customer collaboration over contract negotiation.  XP says: Sit the customer down with the programmers and have them steer the project every single day.
4. Agile says: We value responding to change over following a plan.  XP says: Set up intense and rapid feedback and govern yourselves by it.
5. The fact is, XP's real viewpoint is so radical that it can't even be properly expressed by comparing with those wimpy weightless Agile preferences.

Espalier is one of the concepts Dave mentions in the presentation and the photo is a physical example of hedge espalier at Heronswood Gardens.