TITLE: Process on My Mind
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: April 30, 2006 12:04 PM
DESC:
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BODY:
My family and I watched the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber
rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" this weekend. Both
of my daughters are into the theater, having performed
a few times and seen most of the local children's theater's
productions over the last many years. My older daughter
vaguely remembers a stage production we saw a few years
ago at an excellent
local playhouse
and wanted to see the show again. Our local library
had two versions, the
original 1973 movie
and a 2000
London theatrical performance
staged for television. Fortunately, we all like the
music, so watching the same show on back-to-back nights
was just fine.
Watching two versions so close in time really made the
differences in tone, characterization, and staging stand
out in great relief. The newer version took a European
viewpoint, with the Romans as fascist/Nazi-like overlords
and the common people seeking a revolution. The older
version focused more on the personal struggles of the
main characters -- Jesus, Mary, and especially Judas --
as they tried to come to grips with all that was happening
around them.
For some reason, this brought to mind a short blog entry
called
Process as theatre
written by Laurent Bossavit nearly two years ago. Laurent
considers the differences between Extreme Programming as
described in Kent Beck's original book and as practiced by
Kent and others since, and compares them to the script of
a play like "Hamlet". The script stays the same, but each
staging makes its own work of art. The two videos I watched
this weekend were at the same time both the same play and
very different plays. (I was proud when my younger daughter
recognized this and was able to express the two sides.)
Folks who feel compelled to follow every letter of every
rule of a methodology often find themselves burning out and
becoming disillusioned. Or, even when they are able to
keep the faith, they find it difficult to bring others into
the process, because those folks don't feel any need to be
so limited.
On the other hand, we've all seen performances that take
too many liberties with a script or story -- and instinctively
feel that something is wrong. Similarly, we can't take too
many liberties with XP or other methodologies before we are
no longer working within their spirit. In XP, if we give
up too many restrictions, we find that some of the remaining
practices lose their effectiveness without the balancing
effects of what we've removed.
As in so many things, striking the right balance between all
or nothing is the key. But we start from a healthier place
when we realize that a development process consists of both
script and production, fixed and dynamic elements working
together to create a whole.
I had forgotten that Laurent's blog entry refers to the book
Artful Making.
In an interesting confluence, I just this week asked our
library to purchase a copy of this book so that I can read
it over the summer. Now I'm even more eager.
Oh, and on the two versions of "Superstar": call me an
old fogey,
but I still love the 1973 movie.
Larry Marshall
as Simon Zealotes gives an awesome performance in his
highlighted scene, and
Josh Mostel
delivers one of the all-time great comedic song-and-dance
performances as King Herod. "Get out of my life!"
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