Learning Agile: Understanding Scrum, XP, Lean, and Kanban - Softcover

Stellman, Andrew; Greene, Jennifer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1449331920 ISBN 13: 9781449331924

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 2013

Synopsis

Learning Agile is a comprehensive guide to the most popular agile methods, written in a light and engaging style that makes it easy for you to learn.

Agile has revolutionized the way teams approach software development, but with dozens of agile methodologies to choose from, the decision to "go agile" can be tricky. This practical book helps you sort it out, first by grounding you in agileâ??s underlying principles, then by describing four specificâ??and well-usedâ??agile methods: Scrum, extreme programming (XP), Lean, and Kanban.

Each method focuses on a different area of development, but they all aim to change your teamâ??s mindsetâ??from individuals who simply follow a plan to a cohesive group that makes decisions together. Whether youâ??re considering agile for the first time, or trying it again, youâ??ll learn how to choose a method that best fits your team and your company.

• Understand the purpose behind agileâ??s core values and principles
• Learn Scrumâ??s emphasis on project management, self-organization, and collective commitment
• Focus on software design and architecture with XP practices such as test-first and pair programming
• Use Lean thinking to empower your team, eliminate waste, and deliver software fast
• Learn how Kanbanâ??s practices help you deliver great software by managing flow
• Adopt agile practices and principles with an agile coach

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Stellman is a developer, architect, speaker, agile coach, project manager, and expert in building better software. He has over two decades of professional experience building software, and has architected large-scale real-time back end systems, managed large international software teams, been a Vice President at a major investment bank, and consulted for companies, schools, and corporations, including Microsoft, the National Bureau of Economic Research, Bank of America, Notre Dame, and MIT. He's had the privilege of working with some pretty amazing programmers during that time, and likes to think that he's learned a few things from them.

Jennifer Greene is an agile coach, development manager, business analyst, project manager, tester, speaker, and authority on software engineering practices and principles. She's been building software for over twenty years in many different domains including media, finance, and IT consulting. She's worked with teams of excellent developers and testers to tackle tough technical problems and focused her career on finding and fixing the habitual process issues that crop up along the way.

Andrew and Jennifer have been building software and writing about software engineering since 1998. They founded Stellman & Greene Consulting in 2003, and continue to work with software teams every day to build and deliver software to their users. Other O'Reilly titles they've written include Beautiful Teams, Head First C#, Head First PMP, and Applied Software Project Management.

From the Inside Flap

Praise for Learning Agile

Another amazing book by the team of Andrew and Jennifer. Their writing style is engaging, their mastery of all things agile is paramount, and their content is not only comprehensive, it's wonderfully actionable.

--Grady Booch, IBM Fellow

The biggest obstacle to overcome in building a high-performance agile team is not learning how, but learning why. Helping teams discover the why is the key to unlock their potential for greater commitment and more creative collaboration. With a focus on values and principles Andrew and Jennifer have provided an outstanding tool to help you and your team discover the why. I can't wait to share it.

--Todd Webb, Technical Product Leader at a global e-commerce company

As an engineer, I always thought the problems that Agile practices help to solve are a direct hit for the industry. As it turns out, becoming Agile is hard; it's more than just the practices. A piecemeal approach to Agile gives, as the the authors call it, "better-than-not- doing-it" results. If you are just getting started, or Agile is only "better-than-not-doing-it", Andrew and Jennifer have a lot of practical advice on how to read between the lines of the Agile Manifesto and really become Agile.

--James W Grenning, Founder of Wingman Software and co-author of the Agile Manifesto

If you want to learn about any of the specific approaches to agile, you need to read the specific relevant books. That means you know what you want to do in advance. Not very agile of you, is it? What Andrew and Jenny have done is create an approachable, relatable, understandable compendium of what agile is. You don't have to decide in advance what your agile approach is. You can read about all of them, and then decide. On your way, you can learn the system of agile and how it works.

--Johanna Rothman, Author and Consultant

Edition details

• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1449331920
• ISBN 13: 9781449331924
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 417