Collective Ownership

All of the code belongs to all the programmers. This lets the team go at full speed, because when something needs changing, it can be changed without delay.

This is also a typical point of contention in XP, since code ownership is a part of the 'hacker mentality'. Programmers can be quite protective of their code, and don't want to part with it, or at least control of that code.

This also creates islands of knowledge that impair agility within the team and can result in the loss of that knowledge should the person leave the project.

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