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Choose Your WoW!: A Disciplined Agile Delivery Handbook for Optimizing Your Way of Working
There are literally hundreds of books that have been written on agile and lean. So why one more? Most books focus on just a subset of what is required to delivery end-to-end solutions in an agile manner. Developing a coherent approach to the complete picture by piecing together these practices is difficult, especially when the advice in many of these books is conflicting and not well researched, often based on just a few successful applications in a specific context. Disciplined Agile Delivery is the only toolkit available that combines the most effective practices across lean and agile methods into one comprehensive, agnostic, and context-driven approach that you can use to optimize your way of working (WoW).
This handbook is an indispensable guide for agile coaches and practitioners for understanding what options are effective in certain situations and not as effective in others. This advice is based on proven experience from hundreds of organizations facing similar situations to yours.
There are many ways that a team can adopt to help them improve their WoW, strategies that are captured in this book. Many people recommend an experimental approach to improvement, and we’ve found guided experiments to be even more effective. The basic idea with the PDSA/PDCA/OODA continuous improvement loop strategy is that you improve your WoW as a series of small changes, a strategy the lean community calls kaizen, which is Japanese for improvement. The first step is to identify a potential improvement, such as a new practice or strategy, that you want to experiment with to see how well it works for you in the context of your situation. The value of DA is that it can guide you through this identification step by helping you to identify a new practice/strategy that is likely to address the challenge you’re hoping to address. By doing so you increase your chance of identifying a potential improvement that works for you, thereby speeding up your efforts to improve your WoW – we call this guided continuous improvement.
There are several ways that this book provides the guidance your team requires to choose and evolve your WoW. First, it describes size lifecycles to choose from, providing lightweight guidance for when and when not to choose each one. These lifecycles A Scrum-based Agile project lifecycle, a Kanban-based Lean project lifecycle, an Agile Continuous Delivery lifecycle, a Lean Continuous Delivery lifecycle, a Program (team of teams) lifecycle, and a Lean Startup-based Exploratory lifecycle. Second, it provides outcome-based process goals from which guide you through choosing from the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of techniques available to your team. Third, it provides guidance to improve how you reflect and improve upon your WoW, increasing the chance that you’ll choose techniques to experiment that are likely to work in the context that you face, thereby increasing the rate at which your team improves. Fourth, it shows how teams can have unique WoWs yet still be governed in a consistent and effective manner by your organization’s leadership. Fifth, it does all of this in an agnostic manner that isn't limited by a specific method or framework. In short, guided continuous improvement enables your team to make better process decisions which then lead to better outcomes.
Choose Your WoW! is organized into six
Finally, this book is the study guide for Disciplined Agile CDA and CDAP certifications. Certs based on earned knowledge and skilled people produce better results.
This handbook is an indispensable guide for agile coaches and practitioners for understanding what options are effective in certain situations and not as effective in others. This advice is based on proven experience from hundreds of organizations facing similar situations to yours.
There are many ways that a team can adopt to help them improve their WoW, strategies that are captured in this book. Many people recommend an experimental approach to improvement, and we’ve found guided experiments to be even more effective. The basic idea with the PDSA/PDCA/OODA continuous improvement loop strategy is that you improve your WoW as a series of small changes, a strategy the lean community calls kaizen, which is Japanese for improvement. The first step is to identify a potential improvement, such as a new practice or strategy, that you want to experiment with to see how well it works for you in the context of your situation. The value of DA is that it can guide you through this identification step by helping you to identify a new practice/strategy that is likely to address the challenge you’re hoping to address. By doing so you increase your chance of identifying a potential improvement that works for you, thereby speeding up your efforts to improve your WoW – we call this guided continuous improvement.
There are several ways that this book provides the guidance your team requires to choose and evolve your WoW. First, it describes size lifecycles to choose from, providing lightweight guidance for when and when not to choose each one. These lifecycles A Scrum-based Agile project lifecycle, a Kanban-based Lean project lifecycle, an Agile Continuous Delivery lifecycle, a Lean Continuous Delivery lifecycle, a Program (team of teams) lifecycle, and a Lean Startup-based Exploratory lifecycle. Second, it provides outcome-based process goals from which guide you through choosing from the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of techniques available to your team. Third, it provides guidance to improve how you reflect and improve upon your WoW, increasing the chance that you’ll choose techniques to experiment that are likely to work in the context that you face, thereby increasing the rate at which your team improves. Fourth, it shows how teams can have unique WoWs yet still be governed in a consistent and effective manner by your organization’s leadership. Fifth, it does all of this in an agnostic manner that isn't limited by a specific method or framework. In short, guided continuous improvement enables your team to make better process decisions which then lead to better outcomes.
Choose Your WoW! is organized into six
Finally, this book is the study guide for Disciplined Agile CDA and CDAP certifications. Certs based on earned knowledge and skilled people produce better results.
801 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2019
130 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Scott W. Ambler
40 books23 followersScott W. Ambler is a Canadian software engineer, consultant and author, currently Senior Consulting Partner at Scott Ambler + Associates.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 7, 2021
Rendkívül hasznos kézikönyv, mind a 430+ oldala fontos és jól használható információt hordoz! Az elmúlt egy évben elsősorban referenciaként használtam agilis coach-i, tanácsadói, oktatói munkámban, de most befektettem az időt, végigolvastam és kijegyzeteltem.
A kiadványról alkotott véleményem alapvetően ugyanaz, mint amit a hozzá kapcsolódó rövid összefoglaló kötetről (Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Small Agile Team’s Journey from Scrum to Continuous Delivery) megfogalmaztam: a könyv belső megjelenése egyszerűen nem méltó a tartalmához. De végső soron az utóbbi számít.
Fontos tudni, hogy amit elolvastam, az a 2019-es kiadás, azóta megjelent egy újabb, a 2020-as is: Choose your WoW: A Disciplined Agile Delivery Handbook for Optimizing Your Way of Working. Mi több, a Disciplined Agile módszertant időközben magáévá tette a Project Management Institute (PMI), így a legfrissebb információkat az ő webhelyükön keressétek.
A kiadványról alkotott véleményem alapvetően ugyanaz, mint amit a hozzá kapcsolódó rövid összefoglaló kötetről (Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Small Agile Team’s Journey from Scrum to Continuous Delivery) megfogalmaztam: a könyv belső megjelenése egyszerűen nem méltó a tartalmához. De végső soron az utóbbi számít.
Fontos tudni, hogy amit elolvastam, az a 2019-es kiadás, azóta megjelent egy újabb, a 2020-as is: Choose your WoW: A Disciplined Agile Delivery Handbook for Optimizing Your Way of Working. Mi több, a Disciplined Agile módszertant időközben magáévá tette a Project Management Institute (PMI), így a legfrissebb információkat az ő webhelyükön keressétek.
July 4, 2021
Overall I believe is a good book compiling all the complex process related to software development. Some processes (like QA-related) feel a bit more detailed than others, and some described practices are truly not recommendable (I believe the authors tried to include all options, but not sure how valuable some of them are).
As a product person, I believe it falls short on the role of product and how we prioritize work, but many agile related books have the same issue.
As a product person, I believe it falls short on the role of product and how we prioritize work, but many agile related books have the same issue.
July 19, 2020
As an agilist this book filled so many gaps in how to implement agile in a pragmatic way. I highly recommend both reading the book and taking the Disciplined Agile course. These have been an epiphany to me.
September 10, 2025
Elige tu procedimiento de trabajo (Way of Working), parte de un principio general: cada proyecto es único y, además, evoluciona en el tiempo.
Hace años, casi todos los proyectos seguían una metodología secuencial para su desarrollo, que se adaptaba atendiendo, sobre todo, a su tamaño.
Ahora hay una variedad de proyectos que responden a distintas situaciones, tanto por la tecnología que utilizan como por los objetivos que persiguen.
También se han abierto camino nuevas metodologías de gestión ágiles que, en vez de seguir caminos secuenciales, iteran en ciclos de desarrollo que incorporan el cambio para adaptarse a las necesidades cambiantes de los clientes.
Este libro es un manual de uso sobre la gestión de proyectos que, reconociendo la utilidad y pervivencia del enfoque en cascada, lo deja a un lado para centrarse en lo que ha llamado Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD), o Entrega Ágil Disciplinada.
Me lo he leído de principio a fin, y eso mismo recomiendo a quien tenga interés en la gestión de proyectos con enfoques ágiles, para después conservarlo como manual de consulta al que recurrir cuando se presenten dudas sobre un tema específico, como por ejemplo qué tipo de pruebas convienen al tipo de proyecto que se afronta.
Para facilitar una guía rápida de consulta (que, por supuesto, también está explicada en perfecto inglés en el prefacio del libro), describo aquí la estructura del texto:
El ciclo de vida del proyecto se divide en tres etapas:
• Iniciación
• Construcción
• Transición
Puedes elegir entre seis tipos diferentes de ciclos de vida (los escribo en inglés, como aparecen en el texto):
• Agile
• Continuous Delivery: Agile
• Exploratory
• Lean
• Continuous Delivery: Lean
• Program
Bien. Podrás elegir el ciclo de vida más adecuado para tu proyecto teniendo en cuenta su contexto. Para ello dispones de un árbol de decisión (pág. 111) que resulta de gran ayuda.
¿Y luego, qué?
Pues luego, por cada fase (Iniciación; Construcción —producir valor de negocio—; Transición —despliegue en producción—) encontrarás los objetivos de proceso (Process Goals).
Por cada uno, se detallan las principales prácticas y estrategias, entre las cuales podrás elegir la que mejor se acomode a tu situación.
Aquí te dejo el índice de procesos, a modo de chuleta, por si quieres ir directamente a lo que te interesa. Aún así, te aconsejo encarecidamente leer el prefacio y el primer capítulo.
Iniciación
7. Formar el equipo (110)
8. Alineamiento con la Dirección Corporativa (127)
9. Explorar el alcance (135)
10. Identificar la estrategia de la Arquitectura (149)
11. Planificar la Release (165)
12. Desarrollar la estrategia de pruebas (179)
13. Desarrollar una visión común (207)
14. Asegurar presupuesto (215)
Construcción
15. Probar la Arquitectura en fase temprana (223)
16. Abordar las necesidades cambiantes de los usuarios (227) (en el original usa “Address”)
17. Producir una solución potencialmente utilizable (241)
18. Mejorar la calidad (257)
19. Acelerar la entrega de valor (265)
Transición
20. Asegurar la preparación de Producción (291)
21. Desplegar la solución (295)
22. Crecimiento del Equipo de trabajo (305)
23. Coordinar actividades (315)
24. Evolucionar el procedimiento de trabajo (WoW) (335)
25. Abordar riesgos (365) (en el original usa “Address”)
26. Aprovechar y mejorar la Arquitectura existente (378)
27. Gobernar al equipo de la entrega
La última sección la dedica a convencernos de las bondades de la certificación en alguna de las posibilidades que ofrece el PMI.
Certificarte requiere un esfuerzo de aprendizaje, y lo digo por experiencia, pero sin duda merece la pena. Soy partidario de estas certificaciones porque realmente aportan valor al profesional y, gracias al prestigio del PMI, transmiten a los demás la confianza de que ese conocimiento está demostrado y avalado.
Quería contribuir al colectivo hispanohablante con esta guía para un uso eficiente del libro/manual Choose your WoW de Scott W. Ambler.
Agilistas y Jefes de proyecto, ¡Os deseo la mejor elección!
Hace años, casi todos los proyectos seguían una metodología secuencial para su desarrollo, que se adaptaba atendiendo, sobre todo, a su tamaño.
Ahora hay una variedad de proyectos que responden a distintas situaciones, tanto por la tecnología que utilizan como por los objetivos que persiguen.
También se han abierto camino nuevas metodologías de gestión ágiles que, en vez de seguir caminos secuenciales, iteran en ciclos de desarrollo que incorporan el cambio para adaptarse a las necesidades cambiantes de los clientes.
Este libro es un manual de uso sobre la gestión de proyectos que, reconociendo la utilidad y pervivencia del enfoque en cascada, lo deja a un lado para centrarse en lo que ha llamado Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD), o Entrega Ágil Disciplinada.
Me lo he leído de principio a fin, y eso mismo recomiendo a quien tenga interés en la gestión de proyectos con enfoques ágiles, para después conservarlo como manual de consulta al que recurrir cuando se presenten dudas sobre un tema específico, como por ejemplo qué tipo de pruebas convienen al tipo de proyecto que se afronta.
Para facilitar una guía rápida de consulta (que, por supuesto, también está explicada en perfecto inglés en el prefacio del libro), describo aquí la estructura del texto:
El ciclo de vida del proyecto se divide en tres etapas:
• Iniciación
• Construcción
• Transición
Puedes elegir entre seis tipos diferentes de ciclos de vida (los escribo en inglés, como aparecen en el texto):
• Agile
• Continuous Delivery: Agile
• Exploratory
• Lean
• Continuous Delivery: Lean
• Program
Bien. Podrás elegir el ciclo de vida más adecuado para tu proyecto teniendo en cuenta su contexto. Para ello dispones de un árbol de decisión (pág. 111) que resulta de gran ayuda.
¿Y luego, qué?
Pues luego, por cada fase (Iniciación; Construcción —producir valor de negocio—; Transición —despliegue en producción—) encontrarás los objetivos de proceso (Process Goals).
Por cada uno, se detallan las principales prácticas y estrategias, entre las cuales podrás elegir la que mejor se acomode a tu situación.
Aquí te dejo el índice de procesos, a modo de chuleta, por si quieres ir directamente a lo que te interesa. Aún así, te aconsejo encarecidamente leer el prefacio y el primer capítulo.
Iniciación
7. Formar el equipo (110)
8. Alineamiento con la Dirección Corporativa (127)
9. Explorar el alcance (135)
10. Identificar la estrategia de la Arquitectura (149)
11. Planificar la Release (165)
12. Desarrollar la estrategia de pruebas (179)
13. Desarrollar una visión común (207)
14. Asegurar presupuesto (215)
Construcción
15. Probar la Arquitectura en fase temprana (223)
16. Abordar las necesidades cambiantes de los usuarios (227) (en el original usa “Address”)
17. Producir una solución potencialmente utilizable (241)
18. Mejorar la calidad (257)
19. Acelerar la entrega de valor (265)
Transición
20. Asegurar la preparación de Producción (291)
21. Desplegar la solución (295)
22. Crecimiento del Equipo de trabajo (305)
23. Coordinar actividades (315)
24. Evolucionar el procedimiento de trabajo (WoW) (335)
25. Abordar riesgos (365) (en el original usa “Address”)
26. Aprovechar y mejorar la Arquitectura existente (378)
27. Gobernar al equipo de la entrega
La última sección la dedica a convencernos de las bondades de la certificación en alguna de las posibilidades que ofrece el PMI.
Certificarte requiere un esfuerzo de aprendizaje, y lo digo por experiencia, pero sin duda merece la pena. Soy partidario de estas certificaciones porque realmente aportan valor al profesional y, gracias al prestigio del PMI, transmiten a los demás la confianza de que ese conocimiento está demostrado y avalado.
Quería contribuir al colectivo hispanohablante con esta guía para un uso eficiente del libro/manual Choose your WoW de Scott W. Ambler.
Agilistas y Jefes de proyecto, ¡Os deseo la mejor elección!
August 14, 2022
I really liked it.
Choose your Wow is about how agile software development teams can choose their way of working (WoW).
What does this mean? DA starts with some assumptions:
1. That teams should choose their way working
2. The being agile is constructed on knowing how to do agile
3. Software creation is complicated and needs scaffolding to support teams in choosing their WoW
4. Since other people faced similar challenges to yours you can use that learning
The scaffolding DA proposes starts with process goals that guide teamsprocess-relatedocess related decisions that they need to make to tailor agile strategies to address the context of the situations they face. Each process goal (there are 24 of them like "form team", "prove architecture early", "deploy the solution", "measure outcomes", ...) contains decision points (items you must decide upon, ranging from 2 to 20+). Each decision point has lists (or choice) that you could make in order to address a decision point.
I highly encourage all Agile practitioners in software development to check this book out.
On the downside, it speaks a lot about process, and it feels that it speaks less about people and their interactions. It also feels heavy, and although less prescriptive that SAFe for example, the sheer amount of choices, the details, and the norms can feel overwhelming. It is no surprise to me that the Project Management Institute chose to host it. They so keep on heaviness.
The book does what it says it does good.
Choose your Wow is about how agile software development teams can choose their way of working (WoW).
What does this mean? DA starts with some assumptions:
1. That teams should choose their way working
2. The being agile is constructed on knowing how to do agile
3. Software creation is complicated and needs scaffolding to support teams in choosing their WoW
4. Since other people faced similar challenges to yours you can use that learning
The scaffolding DA proposes starts with process goals that guide teamsprocess-relatedocess related decisions that they need to make to tailor agile strategies to address the context of the situations they face. Each process goal (there are 24 of them like "form team", "prove architecture early", "deploy the solution", "measure outcomes", ...) contains decision points (items you must decide upon, ranging from 2 to 20+). Each decision point has lists (or choice) that you could make in order to address a decision point.
I highly encourage all Agile practitioners in software development to check this book out.
On the downside, it speaks a lot about process, and it feels that it speaks less about people and their interactions. It also feels heavy, and although less prescriptive that SAFe for example, the sheer amount of choices, the details, and the norms can feel overwhelming. It is no surprise to me that the Project Management Institute chose to host it. They so keep on heaviness.
The book does what it says it does good.
July 27, 2023
I found this book intriguing as it introduces a new way of looking at agile projects, beyond the usual approach of scrum. It is certainly not for everyone!
The book is reasonably well organized, though not perfect.
This book, just like the disciplined agile idea it discusses, are not prescriptive in any respect. See pmi.org for more in-depth info on specific disciplined agile techniques. Some may find that the lack of “do this” to be a significant barrier; this “weakness” is also the greatest “strength”, in that your team gets to choose the parts and pieces that will work for them. Note that there are no specific work methods that are truly covered in detail in the book, and these are all located on pmi.org for free, and in some cases, what may be covered in a small paragraph on pmi.org would then lead you to lots of other blog, posts, or even books necessary to fully understand that respective topic.
This book does a great job of giving a high-level overview of what distributed agile is, and is not.
If these ideas may be applicable to your organization, this could absolutely be a transformative idea on how a team or organization works together to deliver value to customers quicker.
The book is reasonably well organized, though not perfect.
This book, just like the disciplined agile idea it discusses, are not prescriptive in any respect. See pmi.org for more in-depth info on specific disciplined agile techniques. Some may find that the lack of “do this” to be a significant barrier; this “weakness” is also the greatest “strength”, in that your team gets to choose the parts and pieces that will work for them. Note that there are no specific work methods that are truly covered in detail in the book, and these are all located on pmi.org for free, and in some cases, what may be covered in a small paragraph on pmi.org would then lead you to lots of other blog, posts, or even books necessary to fully understand that respective topic.
This book does a great job of giving a high-level overview of what distributed agile is, and is not.
If these ideas may be applicable to your organization, this could absolutely be a transformative idea on how a team or organization works together to deliver value to customers quicker.
November 13, 2022
Choose your Way of Working --> this book helps you through the process of choosing your way of working, without instructing you how to actually do the work.
What do I mean? The Choose your WoW approach might guide you and your team towards Scrum or Lean (etc), without actually helping you with how to implement Scrum. The idea is that there are plenty other resources to help with that.
I valued that Choose your WoW explicitly addressed scaling Agile in large organizations, and was forthright and pragmatic about while theoretical Agile is great, Business management, PMOs, and similar forces are present and must be addressed (and not ignored).
I wish the book was a bit more detailed on the mechanics of lifecycles, a little more clear about Process Blades, and I wish the DABrowser had links to more artifacts (possibly something that should grow with time).
What do I mean? The Choose your WoW approach might guide you and your team towards Scrum or Lean (etc), without actually helping you with how to implement Scrum. The idea is that there are plenty other resources to help with that.
I valued that Choose your WoW explicitly addressed scaling Agile in large organizations, and was forthright and pragmatic about while theoretical Agile is great, Business management, PMOs, and similar forces are present and must be addressed (and not ignored).
I wish the book was a bit more detailed on the mechanics of lifecycles, a little more clear about Process Blades, and I wish the DABrowser had links to more artifacts (possibly something that should grow with time).
October 12, 2023
DAD Choose Your WOW" is a standout book for anyone delving into Agile methodology. Its exceptional attention to detail makes it a valuable resource, offering comprehensive insights into the world of Agile frameworks and tools.
As a novice Agile practitioner, I found the author's guidance on implementing Agile to be especially invaluable. It provides clear and actionable guidelines that can lead to successful Agile adoption. With its meticulous guidance and clarity, it's an indispensable companion for mastering Agile methodology and making it work for you.
As a novice Agile practitioner, I found the author's guidance on implementing Agile to be especially invaluable. It provides clear and actionable guidelines that can lead to successful Agile adoption. With its meticulous guidance and clarity, it's an indispensable companion for mastering Agile methodology and making it work for you.
October 23, 2020
Great book about scaling agile. If you have taken scrum or safe courses you need to check this out because PMI purchased the company that made this book. The book is a bit long but most of the material is reference that you can skim so it wont take you long to finish. My full review is here: https://ericbrownbookreviews.com/choo...
May 13, 2023
Referenced this book for some workflow processes on an organisational level. I love how detailed the book is in explaining how to put them into practice. Although it is a it of an overload of information to remember all the concepts and processes on your first read. It is a good book to reference as the information is categorised into chapters and sections for easy reference.
January 20, 2024
This book did not wow me at all. But I did copy their DA principles, promises, and guidelines into my notebook – they’re a very sensible of the existing agile principles, and I might refer back to them one day.
June 4, 2023
Nuevos términos, nuevos conceptos libro ágil.. Que incorpora el concepto de DA y nuevas metodologías de aprender como scrumban..
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews