Technologies To Improve Group-Written Code?

iamdjsamba asks: "I've been working at my company as a programmer for about 4 months now, and it's apparent that the working methods could do with a refresh. Practices that we need to start changing are things like: non source-controlled changes that get uploaded to our website when they aren't ready; poor code commenting; and very little in the way of code reuse (if I write a class that could be useful to others, I have no easy way of telling everyone about it). I'm currently looking into ways to change this, and was wondering if anyone on Slashdot had experience of what's good and what's not?"

XP

[VincenzoRomano]

Maybe Extreme Programming [wikipedia.org] can help a little bit.

Relax

[Dr. Hok]

Your problem is that you've been there only 4 months. Wait another 4 months and you're as much sedated as the others and you won't notice it anymore. Works perfectly...

Very Extreme Programming...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe Extreme Programming can help a little bit.

Actually, I advocate "Very Extreme Programming" in cases like these.

This best practice programming technique is not generally applicable, but it is very effective if implemented correctly. It was first popularized by the well known developers, Smith and Wesson. Smith & Wesson, Glock, and other companies produce commerical tools to assist in managing interactions with extremely difficult co-workers, which may be the only fix for the solution you find yourself in.

Good luck!

--
AC