[(Agile Modeling: Effective Practices for EXtreme Programming and the Unified Process )] [Author: Scott W. Ambler] [Apr-2002]

by Scott W. Ambler

"In Agile Modeling, Scott Ambler captures the spirit of skillfully applying the UML, patterns, and more–the balance between too much and too little."–Craig Larman Extreme Programming (XP) and the Unified Process (UP) have both caused quite a sensation in the software development community. Although XP offers a methodology for faster software development, many developers find that it does not explicitly include modeling time, which is crucial to ensure that a project meets its proposed requirements. UP developers, on the other hand, have found that the UP approach to modeling is too documentation-intensive and top heavy, thus impeding progress.Enter Agile Modeling (AM)–– a unique methodology specifically designed to enhance your modeling efforts on software development projects.In this innovative book, Scott Ambler reviews how Model on an XP project without detracting from its fast-moving and agile software development approach Simplify the modeling disciplines/workflows of the UP without losing any of the true benefits of those disciplines Use modeling to explore an issue or to facilitate communication Effectively apply the UML, and extend it with other methodologies, to meet your real-world development needs Reduce the documentation burden on your project by writing agile documents Use simple modeling tools, such as index cards and whiteboards, and know when to use complex CASE tools Rethink your approach to work areas, modeling teams, and modeling sessions The companion Web site includes updates to the book, links to XP and AM resources, and ongoing case studies about AM.Author Scott W. Ambler is President and a senior consultant of Ronin International (www.ronin-intl.com), a software services consulting firm that specializes in software process mentoring and object/component-based software architecture and development. Scott is the author and/or coauthor of numerous books and also coeditor, with Larry Constantine, of the Unified Process series from CMP Books. Scott is a contributing editor with Software Development magazine and a columnist with IBM developerWorks. Scott has spoken at UML World, Software Development, OOPSLA, Object Expo, Java Expo, and Application Development.

Genres: Nonfiction, Architecture, Technology, Computer Science, Computers

Paperback

First published April 4, 2002

About the author

Scott W. Ambler is a Canadian software engineer, consultant and author, currently Senior Consulting Partner at Scott Ambler + Associates.

From Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Edwin Dalorzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful, but excessively long

The book covers in detail what is agile modeling and how to implement it. The author delves into the often uncharted territory of agile requirements engineering and agile software design. In these two particular topics I found the book to be pretty useful and I learned some new fresh perspectives on how to solve these problems. The book, though, is unnecessary long and the author tends to be too verbose, often reiterating over and over the same ideas to the point of absolute boredom. I found it really difficult to read the book cover to cover and skipped several pages, just browsing, looking for interesting headlines where to stop and read further. The book is old and some of the methodologies mentioned in the book may be considered outdated by many (e.g. the book has a chapter on how to do agile modeling with RUP). Many reference links to other materials mentioned in the book are no longer valid and the referenced web pages do not exist.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

For us techies, this was an easy read while still informative. This is a book that I keep on my shelf for reference from time to time to make sure that I am approaching projects correctly. Adding Agile methods to my project management approach has helped me to keep moving forward, while pleasing the customer as well. Any developer (programming or not) who has not read this, should take the time to read it and learn from the approach.

My wish would be that more disciplines would adopt these principles.

[Sami Poimala · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first books about agility that I've read. A lot of my thinking comes from this one book. It gives you a solid mind set about agility from the modeling perspective. But it's not limited to modeling. It's about being an effective developer.