Collective Ownership

With collective ownership, any team member or pair can implement a feature, fix a bug, or refactor any part of the code at any time. In XP, everyone is responsible for the system. This encourages each team member to feel responsible for the overall quality.

The original term in the eXtreme Programming book is "collective ownership" rather than just "code ownership," because all artifacts in development are collectively owned by the team, not just the code.

When ownership is not collective, only one person owns the code, and programmers must submit it for review and approval.

Collective ownership promotes collaboration, code review, and more effective code maintenance, allowing the team to be more agile in delivering quality software. It reduces dependency on a single individual and creates a sense of shared responsibility.

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Sustainable Pace

"Software development is a marathon, not a 100-meter sprint."

Long-term productivity is key. Over a week or slightly more, the team may produce more by working extra hours. However, in the long run, this is unsustainable, as performance declines week after week.