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Agile Software Development
(Agile Software Development Series)
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-- Not just a lightweight approach: highly scalable and completely customizable!-- Sound advice for completing even the most complex and difficult projects -- without burnout.
-- Based on more than ten years of research with highly functional software development teams.
Lightweight methodologies are exploding in popularity because their flexibility is ideal for today's fast- ...more
-- Based on more than ten years of research with highly functional software development teams.
Lightweight methodologies are exploding in popularity because their flexibility is ideal for today's fast- ...more
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Paperback, 278 pages
Published
October 12th 2001
by Addison-Wesley Professional
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This is a fantastic book and Agile development and the theories behind it.
If you don't understand Agile after reading this, you need to re-read it.
So, what is Agile?
It's more of a process, than a strict set of rules.
The Agile Manifesto declares the following:
"Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
th ...more
If you don't understand Agile after reading this, you need to re-read it.
So, what is Agile?
It's more of a process, than a strict set of rules.
The Agile Manifesto declares the following:
"Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
th ...more

Still relevant more than a decade after the second edition was published. The idea that an Agile development methodology can be customized to meet the special needs of a particular group and project was very insightful all those years ago and the fact that many folks in the Agile world are just now beginning to see that one size does not fit all is a testament to how far it was ahead of its time.
The best part of this book was the explanation of the nature of software development as a uniquely hu ...more
The best part of this book was the explanation of the nature of software development as a uniquely hu ...more

Despite its theoretical approach, Alistair Cockburn is my favorite author, thinker and inovator on the Software development field, and this book (its second and revised edition) explains a lot of the questions that make Software development an Art and a Science at the same time. Cockburn does the best job to understand the chaos of the game, whether the human interaction component or the technological solutions that development struggles to concrete.

As a book on the psychology of the workplace and the barriers to smooth software development, I think this is one of the best books I've read. However the industry is not what it was when the book was written and essential ideas like automation and focus on delivery are not really covered.
...more

Agile Software Development is a book from Alistair Cockburn part of the mythical group who gathered together and signed on the Agile Manifesto. The second edition, published in 2007 contains several updates to the first one published several years earlier.
A big chunk of the book concentrates around the more abstract points around the challenges of communication, how software is a game of cooperation, analysis of the peculiarities of individuals and teams and finally methodologies. These chapters ...more
A big chunk of the book concentrates around the more abstract points around the challenges of communication, how software is a game of cooperation, analysis of the peculiarities of individuals and teams and finally methodologies. These chapters ...more

De filosofie van Agile Software Development
Ik ben de laatste maanden intensief bezig geweest met het boek Agile Software Development – The Cooperative Game van Alistair Cockburn. Meestal lees ik boeken veel sneller maar dit boek dwong me steeds om te reflecteren, gaf me continu ideeën voor toepassingen. Maar nu is het boek uit, en dus is het tijd voor een bespreking. In deze eerste blog de filosofische basis.
Deel 0 van het boek begint filosofisch: “wat kunnen we eigenlijk weten?”, wat is “knowab ...more
Ik ben de laatste maanden intensief bezig geweest met het boek Agile Software Development – The Cooperative Game van Alistair Cockburn. Meestal lees ik boeken veel sneller maar dit boek dwong me steeds om te reflecteren, gaf me continu ideeën voor toepassingen. Maar nu is het boek uit, en dus is het tijd voor een bespreking. In deze eerste blog de filosofische basis.
Deel 0 van het boek begint filosofisch: “wat kunnen we eigenlijk weten?”, wat is “knowab ...more

Jan 02, 2017
Marcel
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
software-consulting
I think I'm just not a fan of Cockburn's writing :(
While there are a lot of interesting thoughts in this book, it's juuuuuussssttt tooooooo looooooong.
Maybe if you are new to all this, maybe...
I don't know, I would have preferred a massively edited down version, not this 500 page tour de force. And while I am a sucker for academic theory on top of practical topics, some of the stuff Cockburn references just feels like so far removed from reality that it made me cringe and smile at the same time ...more
While there are a lot of interesting thoughts in this book, it's juuuuuussssttt tooooooo looooooong.
Maybe if you are new to all this, maybe...
I don't know, I would have preferred a massively edited down version, not this 500 page tour de force. And while I am a sucker for academic theory on top of practical topics, some of the stuff Cockburn references just feels like so far removed from reality that it made me cringe and smile at the same time ...more

I know that Alistair Cockburn is supposed to be one of the founding fathers of the Agile movement, but I disagreed with a lot of what he said, and this book is
very
philosophical.
In Chapter 1 he compares software development to the precepts of Aikido.
In Chapter 2 he says that software development is like a community writing epic poetry together.
A bit later on he says that software development is 'a game within a game.'
That's funny, fellow software engineers always thought that it was ...more
In Chapter 1 he compares software development to the precepts of Aikido.
In Chapter 2 he says that software development is like a community writing epic poetry together.
A bit later on he says that software development is 'a game within a game.'
That's funny, fellow software engineers always thought that it was ...more

Good reading for learning the principles and philosophy behind agile methodologies. With amusing anecdotes and interesting analogies from disparate sources such as the Lockheed Skunkworks and the Chrysler C3 Project, the author shows how group dynamics between stakeholders can influence the success or failure of a project, indicating the pitfalls that undermine the so-called information flow and showing how they can be avoided to bring in to fruition a project of this nature.

This book gave a good overview of the concepts of Agile and provided some useful techniques for making Agile methodologies work. Towards the end of the book, it gets a little more "salesman" with the author making a case for his particular methodology, but up to that point, it was a useful read.
...more

Jul 29, 2008
Scott
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Agile enthusiasts
Recommended to Scott by:
Alistair Cockburn at a talk
Shelves:
softwareengineering
This is an interesting take on agile software development. I heard Alistair speak to this book at a local IEEE Computer Society meeting. He likes to use analogies for relating experiences in software and this is very effective.

Jun 23, 2011
Girish
marked it as to-read
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

Fast schon "philosophisch", aber sehr gute Einführung und Grundlage, tiefgehend. Eigentlich Pflichtlektüre
...more

Having a tough time with this one. It's challenging a lot of foundational beliefs I have about the way I do my job. The writing is good so far...
...more
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