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Title: Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide by Craig Larman ISBN: 0-13-111155-8 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Book
Comment: This is the best book I have ever read about modern software development methodologies. I never really understood the difference between the UP (Unified Process) and the RUP (Rational Unified Process) before I read this book. Now I understand the differences very well. I also didn't really have a good understanding of the main iterative methodologies: Scrum, XP, UP, and Evo. I had heard and read a little about all of these methodologies, but until I read this book, I didn't realize how little I knew. If you would like to learn more about agile and iterative development and how it compares to the traditional waterfall software development methodology, you need to buy this book. Also, if you are having trouble getting your management team to buy in to agile and iterative software development, buy this book. It will give you all of the ammunition you need to convince them.
Rating: 5
Summary: Clear, well-written and valuable
Comment: Craig's book begins with an excellent presentation of the fundamental concepts behind agile development and follows with a strong "Evidence" chapter.
Next is the clear, easy-to-read comparison between the leading agile methodologies (XP, Scrum and UP) and Evo that illustrates their commonalities and differences.
The 'icing on the cake' is the "Practice Tips" chapter that contains many practical insights that I learned the hard way. I think it will be especially useful for project managers new to agile.
As a manager with over 3 years experience managing XP projects, my opinion is that this book is a must-have for any manager interested in agile and iterative development.
Rating: 5
Summary: I wish I had had this book ten years ago
Comment: During the spring semester 2004, I am teaching a course in software engineering. As a major class project, we are developing an application that will scan C/C++ code looking for potential security problems. In my opinion, there is only one way that a class of this type can develop a project of any significance. That is using an agile/iterative development model, where there is a little design, a little coding, a little testing and then go back to design. When I taught software engineering last spring, we used the same model, but were not as agile. Our iterations were longer and we pushed some of the more difficult tasks to the end. As the students noted, "we coded carefully at the start, but then just wanted to get it done at the end."
While this scenario might seem to be a problem, I found it gratifying, because it is just like the real world. The authors of this book are also firmly set in the world of software development. While reading it, I was constantly saying to myself, "It is about time." The reason for this singular conversation was that they completely disrespect the waterfall model of software development. In retrospect the use of the waterfall model is similar to the strict use of the word engineering in software development. Namely, the beliefs that the practice of building software development is just like building a bridge or a building. By thinking that all of the parameters can first be determined and then you build the software, an enormous amount of time, effort and expense had been wasted. Software development is a very dynamic process, one where circumstances are in a constant state of oscillation that gets damped down to a limit point as the project nears completion.
The waterfall model is one that is implicitly taught in school as well, but the only way we get away with it is because most of the programs that students write are small, well within the bounds of having hard parameters. Therefore, it is possible to completely design the program before coding it. In my experience with students fresh out of college, the two concepts they have the most difficulty with in their first job is the constantly changing requirements and the fact that they will know only a small part of the complete application they are building. And so, all educators must place more emphasis on dealing with changing requirements, and this book is an excellent place to start.
Fortunately, the movement towards object-oriented programming and encapsulation has made the change to iterative development easier. A programmer no longer has to be as concerned about possible data and method interactions/conflicts as they had to be when everything was visible to all.
I was sold on the iterative method of software development over a decade ago, when I started a job as a software developer. We were building a new product and received changing requirements on a weekly and sometimes almost daily basis. Quite frankly, we had no choice but to adopt an agile development style. I wish I had had this book with me at that time, it would have saved us a lot of stumbling around as we tried to deal with everything.
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Title: Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed by Barry W. Boehm, Richard Turner, Barry Boehm ISBN: 0321186125 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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Title: Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices by Robert Cecil Martin ISBN: 0135974445 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $57.00 |
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Title: Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber ISBN: 073561993X Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 10 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers by Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck ISBN: 0321150783 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Pub. Date: 08 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software by Eric Evans, Martin Fowler ISBN: 0321125215 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Pub. Date: 22 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.99 |
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