Authors: Greg Smith, Ahmed Sidky
Published: 2009
Publisher: Manning Publications Co.
The authors of Manifesto for Agile Software Development unambiguously acknowledge the value of processes and tools, comprehensive documentation, contract negotiation and following a plan, even though they place more importance on individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration and responding to change.
However many agile zealots are totally closed to the idea that there may be something good in traditional software process development and demean anything related to it. So it was a real pleasant surprise to come across this book written by two agilists – Greg Smith and Ahmed Sidky, who do not believe in throwing the baby out with the bath water in their enthusiasm to introduce agile methods in an organization.There are many good books on agile principles and techniques. But this is the first book I have come across which lays out a detailed and systematic roadmap from the culture of traditional software development to that of an agile culture. The need for such a book has been well recognized by Mary Poppendieck, an authority on lean software development, who has written the foreword for this book.
A very well written book containing lots of useful techniques and templates which can be easily adapted to the organization’s need.
However the case study described in this book though it illustrates the agile concepts well, seems rather smooth sailing. It could be enhanced with examples of more critical and problematic situations, normally encountered in real life projects.
Nevertheless I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to transition from the traditional way of software engineering to a more agile way.
Read more about this book at Bookworm Reads: Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World.
