Agile Software Engineering

Overview and Goals The agile approach for software development has been applied more and more extensively since the mid nineties of the 20th century. Though there are only about ten years of accumulated experience using the agile approach, it is currently conceived as one of the mainstream approaches for software development. This book presents a complete software engineering course from the agile angle. Our intention is to present the agile approach in a holistic and compreh- sive learning environment that fits both industry and academia and inspires the spirit of agile software development. Agile software engineering is reviewed in this book through the following three perspectives: l The Human perspective, which includes cognitive and social aspects, and refers to learning and interpersonal processes between teammates, customers, and management. l The Organizational perspective, which includes managerial and cultural aspects, and refers to software project management and control. lThe Technological perspective, which includes practical and technical aspects, and refers to design, testing, and coding, as well as to integration, delivery, and maintenance of software products. Specifically, we explain and analyze how the explicit attention that agile software development gives these perspectives and their interconnections, helps viii Preface it cope with the challenges of software projects. This multifaceted perspective on software development processes is reflected in this book, among other ways, by the chapter titles, which specify dimensions of software development projects such as quality, time, abstraction, and management, rather than specific project stages, phases, or practices.

This concise easy-to-follow textbook presents the crucial issues in software engineering using the agile approach to software development - one of the mainstream paradigms for the management of software projects and one that is being applied more and more extensively.

Global principles are presented with detailed practices that can be easily implemented by readers, providing a comprehensive understanding of the important elements of agile software development methods. The authors highlight and integrate technical, social, cognitive and managerial aspects of software development processes in this unique book based on their refreshingly updated software engineering methods course.

Features:

• Contains many learning tools such as: chapter overviews, objectives and summaries, study questions, chapter-end reflective exercises, a solid introductory chapter, etc.

• Discusses the delivery of software projects on time and within budgets by using the agile software development environment

• Considers the customer, as well as the other roles, in agile software development environments

• Looks at measures to control and monitor the software development process

• Investigates the impact of agility on the organization level

• Examines software development processes and environments from a managerial perspective

• Emphasizes the wider context of each topic to software engineering

This complete textbook offers a reader-friendly approach to the topic. Written primarily for advanced undergraduates, this clear foundation course will also be useful for instructors and practitioners looking for a thorough grounding on the subject.

Both authors teach different courses at the Technion – Israel Institute for Technology in which they inspire and apply the agile approach. In addition, both authors coach agile teams in the software industry.