Synopses & Reviews
“Agile Software Development is a highly stimulating and rich book. The author has a deep background and gives us a tour de force of the emerging agile methods.”
–Tom Gilb
The agile model of software development has taken the world by storm. Now, in Agile Software Development, Second Edition, one of agile’s leading pioneers updates his Jolt Productivity award-winning book to reflect all that’s been learned about agile development since its original introduction.
Alistair Cockburn begins by updating his powerful model of software development as a “cooperative game of invention and communication.” Among the new ideas he introduces: harnessing competition without damaging collaboration; learning lessons from lean manufacturing; and balancing strategies for communication. Cockburn also explains how the cooperative game is played in business and on engineering projects, not just software development
Next, he systematically illuminates the agile model, shows how it has evolved, and answers the questions developers and project managers ask most often, including
· Where does agile development fit in our organization?
· How do we blend agile ideas with other ideas?
· How do we extend agile ideas more broadly?
Cockburn takes on crucial misconceptions that cause agile projects to fail. For example, you’ll learn why encoding project management strategies into fixed processes can lead to ineffective strategy decisions and costly mistakes. You’ll also find a thoughtful discussion of the controversial relationship between agile methods and user experience design.
Cockburn turns to the practical challenges of constructing agile methodologies for your own teams. You’ll learn how to tune and continuously reinvent your methodologies, and how to manage incomplete communication. This edition contains important new contributions on these and other topics:
· Agile and CMMI
· Introducing agile from the top down
· Revisiting “custom contracts”
· Creating change with “stickers”
In addition, Cockburn updates his discussion of the Crystal methodologies, which utilize his “cooperative game” as their central metaphor.
If you’re new to agile development, this book will help you succeed the first time out. If you’ve used agile methods before, Cockburn’s techniques will make you even more effective.
Synopsis
“Agile Software Development is a highly stimulating and rich book. The author has a deep background and gives us a tour de force of the emerging agile methods.”
–Tom Gilb
The agile model of software development has taken the world by storm. Now, in Agile Software Development, Second Edition, one of agile’s leading pioneers updates his Jolt Productivity award-winning book to reflect all that’s been learned about agile development since its original introduction.
Alistair Cockburn begins by updating his powerful model of software development as a “cooperative game of invention and communication.” Among the new ideas he introduces: harnessing competition without damaging collaboration; learning lessons from lean manufacturing; and balancing strategies for communication. Cockburn also explains how the cooperative game is played in business and on engineering projects, not just software development
Next, he systematically illuminates the agile model, shows how it has evolved, and answers the questions developers and project managers ask most often, including
· Where does agile development fit in our organization?
· How do we blend agile ideas with other ideas?
· How do we extend agile ideas more broadly?
Cockburn takes on crucial misconceptions that cause agile projects to fail. For example, you’ll learn why encoding project management strategies into fixed processes can lead to ineffective strategy decisions and costly mistakes. You’ll also find a thoughtful discussion of the controversial relationship between agile methods and user experience design.
Cockburn turns to the practical challenges of constructing agile methodologies for your own teams. You’ll learn how to tune and continuously reinvent your methodologies, and how to manage incomplete communication. This edition contains important new contributions on these and other topics:
· Agile and CMMI
· Introducing agile from the top down
· Revisiting “custom contracts”
· Creating change with “stickers”
In addition, Cockburn updates his discussion of the Crystal methodologies, which utilize his “cooperative game” as their central metaphor.
If you’re new to agile development, this book will help you succeed the first time out. If you’ve used agile methods before, Cockburn’s techniques will make you even more effective.
Synopsis
"Coming of age for software developers means understanding that software is a cooperative effort, not something individuals do in isolation. This is a book that teams of software developers can thrive upon, full of sensible advice for a cooperative development approach."
--Tom DeMarco, The Atlantic Systems Guild
Software development paradigms are shifting. The development group's "team" ability, and the effects of the individual developer, become more important as organizations recognize that the traditional approach of increasing process pressure and overworking team members is not meeting getting the job done. The pioneers of Agile methodologies question the preconceived processes within which development teams work. Rather than adding to the burden of the individual developer, Agile asks "how can we change the process so that the team is more productive, while also improving quality?" The answer is in learning to play the "game."
Written for developers and project managers, Agile Software Development compares software development to a game. Team members play the game knowing that the ultimate goal is to win--always remembering what they have learned along the way, and always keeping in mind that they will never play the same way twice. Players must keep an open mind to different methodologies, and focus on the goal of developing quality software in a short cycle time.
Based on a decade's work and research, and interviews with software project teams, this book presents sound advice for bringing difficult projects to successful conclusion with a minimum of stress. It includes advice on:
- The principals behind agile methodologies
- Which methodologies fit different projects--including appendixes to select the appropriate methodology on a project
- New vocabulary for describing methodologies
- Just-in-time methodology tuning
- Managing the incompleteness of communication
- Continuous methodology reinvention
- The manifesto for agile software development
Today's software developers need to recognize that they have a number of methodologies to choose from. With this book as a guide, they can break free of nonproductive habits, move beyond old routines, and clear a new path to success.
0201699699B09142001
About the Author
Dr. Alistair Cockburn is an internationally renowned expert on all aspects of software development, from object-oriented modeling and architecture, to methodology design, to project management and organizational alignment. One of the pioneers who coined the term “agile software development,” he co-authored the 2001 Agile Software Development Manifesto and the 2005 Declaration of Interdependence. Since 1975, he has led projects and taught in places from Oslo to Cape Town, from Vancouver to Beijing. His work has covered topics from design to management to testing, in research, in government, and in industry. His most recent book is Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams. His books Writing Effective Use Cases and Agile Software Development won back-to-back Jolt Productivity Awards in 2001 and 2002.
Table of Contents
List of Figures.
List of Stories.
Preface.
Introduction: Unknowable and Incommunicable.
The Problem with Parsing Experience.
The Impossibility of Communication.
Three Levels of Listening.
So, What Do I Do Tomorrow?
Chapter 1: A Cooperative Game of Invention and Communication.
Software and Poetry.
Software and Games.
A Second Look at the Cooperative Game.
What Should This Mean to Me?
2. Individuals.
Them's Funky People.
Overcoming Failure Modes.
Working Better in Some Ways than Others.
Drawing on Success Modes.
What Should I Do Tomorrow?
3. Communicating, Cooperating Teams.
Convection Currents of Information.
Jumping Communication Gaps.
Teams as Communities.
Teams as Ecosystems.
What Should I Do Tomorrow?
4. Methodologies.
An Ecosystem That Ships Software.
Methodology Concepts.
Methodology Design Principles.
XP under Glass.
Why Methodology at All?
What Should I Do Tomorrow?
5. Agile and Self-Adapting.
Light but Sufficient.
Agile.
Becoming Self-Adapting.
What Should I Do Tomorrow?
6. The Crystal Methodologies.
Shaping the Crystal Family.
Crystal Clear.
Crystal Orange.
Crystal Orange Web.
What Should I Do Tomorrow?
Appendix A. The Agile Software Development Manifesto.
The Agile Alliance.
The Manifesto.
Supporting the Values.
Appendix B. Naur, Ehn, Musashi.
Peter Naur, Programming as Theory Building.
Pelle Ehn, Wittgenstein's Language Games.
Musashi.
Appendix C. Books and References.
Index. 0201699699T09252001