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Agile Software Development Series
Agile Software Development Ecosystems by Jim Highsmith
In a highly volatile software development environment, developers must be nimble, responsive, and able to hit a moving target--in short, they must be agile. Agile software development is designed to address this need for speed and flexibility. Agility describes a holistic, collaborative environment in which you can both create and respond to change by focusing on adaptability over predictability, people over process. Agile software development incorporates proven software engineering techniques, but without the overhead and restrictions of traditional development methodologies. Above all, it fulfills its promise of delivering software that serves the client's business needs.Written by one of the leaders of the Agile movement, and including interviews with Agile gurus Kent Beck, Robert Charette, Alistair Cockburn, Martin Fowler, Ken Schwaber, and Ward Cunningham, Agile Software Development Ecosystems crystallizes the current understanding of this flexible and highly successful approach to software development. It presents the key practices of all Agile development approaches, offers overviews of specific techniques, and shows how you can choose the approach that best suits your organization.This book describes--in depth--the most important principles of Agile delivering value to the customer, focusing on individual developers and their skills, collaboration, an emphasis on producing working software, the critical contribution of technical excellence, and a willingness to change course when demands shift. All major Agile methods are Scrum Dynamic Systems Development Method CrystalMethods Feature-Driven Development Lean Development Extreme Programming Adaptive Software Development Throughout the book, case stories are used to illustrate how Agile practices empower success around the world in today's chaotic software development industry. Agile Software Development Ecosystems also examines how to determine your organization's Agile readiness, how to design a custom Agile methodology, and how to transform your company into a truly Agile organization.
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First published April 5, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 13, 2009
i am a little sorry to not give this book five stars. this was a wonderful book for me, because it taught me some things about software that i didnt set out to learn. i never got the agile line "people over process" before, now i do.
there is a lot of very wonderful material in this book. its worth the read. the interviews are mostly excellent, and the case studies are all very interesting. his summaries of some of the major agile methodologies is good primer material.
some of the things that bugged me: he spazzes on and on about how the internet age has changed software forever, and about how software businesses will fail in this new fast-paced environment. this is about the biggest non-starter you could have for me to convince me to be agile. i work in research/academia, where these kinds of considerations are secondary. i also, personally, do not give a shit about "successful business". it is less than interesting. finally, i am anything but a "fast-paced" guy. but this has never stopped me from being a highly productive software developer.
the second thing that bugged me is that much of the book is repetitive, unfocused, and overly abstract. i many times found myself just pushing through large (10+ page) annoying sections of the book. i didnt skim, mostly out of respect for the author who really brought me a lot: a much much clearer understand of agile than i ever had, an attitude change about agile and software development practices in general, some good basic background on different agile methodologies, and some good interviews with some cool people.
there is a lot of very wonderful material in this book. its worth the read. the interviews are mostly excellent, and the case studies are all very interesting. his summaries of some of the major agile methodologies is good primer material.
some of the things that bugged me: he spazzes on and on about how the internet age has changed software forever, and about how software businesses will fail in this new fast-paced environment. this is about the biggest non-starter you could have for me to convince me to be agile. i work in research/academia, where these kinds of considerations are secondary. i also, personally, do not give a shit about "successful business". it is less than interesting. finally, i am anything but a "fast-paced" guy. but this has never stopped me from being a highly productive software developer.
the second thing that bugged me is that much of the book is repetitive, unfocused, and overly abstract. i many times found myself just pushing through large (10+ page) annoying sections of the book. i didnt skim, mostly out of respect for the author who really brought me a lot: a much much clearer understand of agile than i ever had, an attitude change about agile and software development practices in general, some good basic background on different agile methodologies, and some good interviews with some cool people.
March 4, 2013
The book is a bit boring at the first glance but it contains a lot of valuable business stories and real life Agile practices. It will put you inside the business as if you were part of the team and will give you a perfect insight about how Agile methodology help in the different business situations.
February 1, 2012
The best book on Agile I've ever read. Period.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews