Read Online The Art of Agile Development Pragmatic Guide to Agile Software Development James Shore Shane Warden 0636920527671 Books

Product details Paperback 440 pages Publisher O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (November 5, 2007) Language English ISBN-10 0596527675

The Art of Agile Development Pragmatic Guide to Agile Software Development James Shore Shane Warden 0636920527671 Books Reviews

• This book has changed the way in which I code. I am a programming department of one in a pediatric heart clinic. Working with the old methods, which require scope documents, vision documents, requirement documents and signoffs from all stakeholders did not get me anywhere. The stakeholders failed to understand why it was that I was meeting with them and asking them questions, and as much as I tried to communicate it, they didn't see the value in dedicating a few minutes to discuss what they needed and why they needed it. After 3 years of the producing nothing with the old method, I read this book, and I started applying the Agile Development strategies.
  
  On the recommendation in the book, I created a simple application in one week, tested it and released it into production, and now people wanted to talk to me about the application. "This is great, but could it also do X, Y, and Z?!" they would say. Finally, I had the customer engagement I had been searching for, and I started making the changes and releasing new versions of the software every Friday.
  
  It has been three months, and I have finally got a version of the software that is comparable to the system I was trying to build in my first three years at the clinic. The software was built one update at a time, and gets regular support and feedback from the users. Now that I have implemented some of the Agile Strategies into my work, I will never go back to the "old" ways.
• This is a fabulous book for anyone interested in transitioning to agile or who wants to prune, right size, re-vitalize or increase velocity on your current agile projects.
  
  The insiders view (XP developer, architect, programmer) is unleashed with balance and care to give you the big picture. That means that not just developers, but also other stakeholders will benefit from this book testers, business analysts, quality assurance folk, project leaders/managers, coaches, team facilitators and any other delivery team or advisory stakeholders.
  
  I really liked the dense information provided around the breath of topics from visioning and planning to incremental design and test-driven/exploratory testing; from how to deal with bugs in the backlog to collaboration tips. Jim and Shane offer a wealth of practical, real-world wisdom.
  
  The format provides sidebar "allies" on practices so you can make connections in practices. At the close of each chapter the authors provide something quite friendly and practical short sections for "Questions" (what question might you ask about the topic just discussed), "Results" (outcomes of the practice you should experience), "Contraindications" (things to watch out for), "Alternatives" (other ways to approach the topic), and "Further Reading" (references to other published works). This ties up each topic beautifully.
  
  Regardless of your official role on your project or what flavor of agile you practice, you will greatly benefit by reading, studying, applying, and continually dipping into this wonderful book.
• First, the complaints. This book should have been titled, "The Art of Agile Development with XP." It is not a book about Agile development in general, but rather an overview of extreme programming practices. Also, the authors generally take an all-or-nothing approach to XP. There is little (one page, to be exact) on implementing XP partially or gradually. I understand that XP's practices are largely mutually supporting, but considering that their philosophy is to build software incrementally, I'd have thought they'd be at least sympathetic to the notion of incremental change in development methods. After all, they readily admit that XP can induce culture shock in a team or individual new to XP.
  
  That said, the book gives a thorough description of each XP practice (37, in all) including situations in which a given practice may not be appropriate and possible alternatives, if any. Each section includes a list of books or articles referenced, or which expand on the topics presented. These are really helpful in knowing where to turn next or just building a "future reading" list.
  
  I haven't read any of Part III yet. I'm saving it for after I've had a chance to try out some of the techniques in the book.
  
  Despite some flaws, the book still earns 4-stars.