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Title: Whatever Happened to XP’s System Metaphor
Proposer: Nat Pryce
Proposer: Duncan McGregor
Type: Presentation
Duration: 90 mins
Description:
Of the original twelve XP practices described in the “white book”, the System Metaphor has seen the least adoption. In this talk I will discuss why this might be so, and relate XP’s notion of metaphor to conceptual metaphors that have been investigated by Lakoff et al.

This is a talk followed by a fun (hopefully) audience participation game that illustrates how inescapable conceptual metaphor is when thinking about software. The game is run a bit like the famous Just A Minute gameshow from BBC Radio 4. Audience members (maybe organised as teams) take turns to describe the design of a system they know, without using a metaphor. Their opponents can buzz in with a challenge when they spot a conceptual metaphor. There'll be two judges one who adjudicate challenges (in an entertaining manner) and one who times the talking. The winner is the audience member who talks longest without using a metaphor. The winner gets some amusing but worthless prize.