The Art of Agile Development contains practical guidance for anyone considering or applying agile development for building valuable software. Plenty of books describe what agile development is or why it helps software projects succeed, but very few combine information for developers, managers, testers, and customers into a single package that they can apply directly. This book provides no-nonsense advice on agile planning, development, delivery, and management taken from the authors' many years of experience with Extreme Programming (XP). You get a gestalt view of the agile development process, including comprehensive guidance for non-technical readers and hands-on technical practices for developers and testers. The Art of Agile Development gives you clear answers to questions such as: * How can we adopt agile development? * Do we really need to pair program? * What metrics should we report? * What if I can't get my customer to participate? * How much documentation should we write? * When do we design and architect? * As a non-developer, how should I work with my agile team? * Where is my product roadmap? * How does QA fit in? The book teaches you how to adopt XP practices, describes each practice in detail, then discusses principles that will allow you to modify XP and create your own agile method. In particular, this book tackles the difficult aspects of agile development: the need for cooperation and trust among team members. Whether you're currently part of an agile team, working with an agile team, or interested in agile development, this book provides the practical tips you need to start practicing agile development. As your experience grows, the book will grow with you, providing exercises and information that will teach you first to understand the rules of agile development, break them, and ultimately abandon rules altogether as you master the art of agile development. "Jim Shore and Shane Warden expertly explain the practices and benefits of Extreme Programming. They offer advice from their real-world experiences in leading teams. They answer questions about the practices and show contraindications - ways that a practice may be mis-applied. They offer alternatives you can try if there are impediments to applying a practice, such as the lack of an on-site customer. --Ken Pugh, Author of Jolt Award Winner, Prefactoring "I will leave a copy of this book with every team I visit." --Brian Marick, Exampler Consulting

This book is designed for software engineers who plan to use agile development practices to plan, design, manage and test XP (Extreme Programming) applications. Shore and Warden, both experts in the field of software development, address such topics as how to adopt agile development, what metrics need to be reported, how to get customers involved with the process, the amount of documentation that needs to be written and how to create a product roadmap. This book can also be used by a non-technical management team to supervise the agile development application. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

For those considering Extreme Programming, this book provides no-nonsense advice on agile planning, development, delivery, and management taken from the authors' many years of experience. While plenty of books address the what and why of agile development, very few offer the information users can apply directly.

The Art of Agile Development contains practical, down-to-earth guidance for anyone involved in or considering the agile method — and Extreme Programming in particular — to build reliable software. Agile development methods have become increasingly popular because too many software projects have failed to meet expected release dates, deliver the required features, or to match projected costs. This book provides no-nonsense advice on agile planning, development, delivery, and management taken from the authors' many years of experience.

While plenty of books address the what and why of agile development, very few offer developers, managers, stakeholders and users the information they can apply directly. The Art of Agile Development provides a gestalt view of the agile development process that serves as a comprehensive introduction for non-technical readers, along with hands-on technical practices for programmers and developers. The book also tackles the people aspect of Extreme Programming.

Other books focus solely on the process; this book deals with the need for face-to-face interaction, which is the most difficult aspect of working in an agile development. You'll find clear answers to questions such as: How can we adopt agile development? Do we really need to pair program? What metrics should we report? What if I can't get my customer to participate? How much documentation should we write? When do we design and architect? As a non-developer, how should I work with my agile team? Where is my product roadmap? How does QA fit in?

Whether you are currently part of an agile team, working with an agile team, or interested in agile development you will reach for this book againand again. Author James Shore's companion web site, Successful Software, contains dozens of considered essays discussing agile development and Extreme Programming, with multiple new essays posted each month.