Skip to Content

Extreme Programming: The Zero G Experience

How a software company saved itself by overhauling its development process-and trusting its engineers’ instincts.
November 1, 2003

Zero G is a survivor. The San Francisco company makes installation software-the programs that run when you’re putting new software on your PC. Its headquarters are in the once booming south-of-Market area, where it has remained happily profitable even as its former dot-com neighbors have disappeared. But it almost bit the dust along with them, says president and cofounder Eric N. Shapiro-not because of the economy, but because of the slapdash way it wrote software before adopting a methodology known as “extreme programming.”

The change came not a moment too soon. Until last year, Zero G-like many software companies-followed a six-month cycle for developing new releases of its products, with marketing handing the engineers a list of features, and the engineers agreeing to transform them into software code by a certain date. According to Shapiro, at the beginning of the cycle, engineers would cherry-pick the features that looked the most fun to program, rather than those most important to the customer. Consequently, in early 2002, as the May ship date for Zero G’s release of its InstallAnywhere software grew closer, company programmers found themselves working 15-hour days to complete all the required features, even as the marketing department tried to foist new requests on them. The programmers heroically coded one fix after another, only to find that each fix broke something else. The bug list grew longer every day.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI

The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models. 

Rogue superintelligence and merging with machines: Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist

An exclusive conversation with Ilya Sutskever on his fears for the future of AI and why they’ve made him change the focus of his life’s work.

The Biggest Questions: What is death?

New neuroscience is challenging our understanding of the dying process—bringing opportunities for the living.

Data analytics reveal real business value

Sophisticated analytics tools mine insights from data, optimizing operational processes across the enterprise.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.