It is possible to write software that solves real business problems, cheaply and reliably. The recipe is well known, even though it's not easy to do.
I am an Extreme Programmer. I help individuals, teams and organization become more effective. I'm lucky to work as a developer for ThoughtWorks, mostly in the Milano area. I used to teach at Università dell'Insubria.
Just to get warmed up, I'll start with a principle that is more social than technical and that is largely responsible for the particular bias of the Smalltalk project:
Personal Mastery: If a system is to serve the creative spirit, it must be entirely comprehensible to a single individual.
The point here is that the human potential manifests itself in individuals. To realize this potential, we must provide a medium that can be mastered by a single individual.
Dan Ingalls, Design Principles Behind Smalltalk