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sleepyfox / 2021-07-09-why-3x-is-only-half-the-story.md
Last active October 4, 2021 14:37
Why 3X is only half the story

Why 3X is only half the story

Many people will have read one of Kent Beck's articles on 3X or eXplore-eXpand-eXtract or The Product Development Triathlon. Many people have taken to explaining Kent's work on their own sites, sometimes helping, sometimes not, sometimes even ranking higher on search engines than the original articles!

I have an unpayable debt owed to Kent, his work started me off on a journey of discovery that forever changed how I practice my craft. I count him as one of the handful of people who in this field have had the most effect on my professional career.

But even the best of us are blind to things that our position, our background, our experience and our culture either deprioritise, hide away or even make taboo. I'm going to argue that Kent isn't wrong per se, but rather his model is only half the story - perhaps