Extreme Programming values are the primary guidelines to be used whenever it is not clear how to resolve the particular situation. Value of courage is about acknowledging the fact that the best way to produce the best possible products is to be honest and transparent on all the possible levels from customer communication to the way you type code despite how uncomfortable the idea of high transparency might look like from the beginning. The courage is needed to admit the team and organization weaknesses. Every organization, team and individual have their strong and week sides and only by admitting their existence it is possible to act on them.

Primary XP practices directly supporting the value of courage

• Sit together - be courageous to remove the walls so that everybody could see what each one is capable of
• Energized work - have the courage to state and explain that the 40-hour week and sustainable pace lead both to higher team morale and better software produced faster
• Pair Programming - let the other guy see and feel how you program
• Weekly Cycle - don't be afraid of the frequent evaluation of your work
• Slack - accept the fact that there might be the need to drop something if some feature is more difficult for you, than it was expected

Corollary XP practices directly supporting the value of courage

• Real Customer Involvement - communicating with the customer might be not too easy for some developers, but it brings in a lot of information on what the customer really wants
• Root Cause Analysis - don't be afraid of looking for the deepest roots of the problems. The devils uncovered might not be the most pleasant things to admit, but once they are realized the organization might eventually try acting on them
• Daily Deployment - don't be afraid on demonstrating the real product quality often. Better work on making it work daily
• Negotiated Scope Contract and Pay-per-use - let the trust and transparency be your friends, when earning money

This page is a part of the Extreme Programming overview