Agile software development ecosystems : problems, practices, and principles

It's no wonder "agile" software development methods are rapidly gaining popularity: they promise developers more respect and less bureaucracy, more speed and less aggravation, a greater likelihood of project success, and less chance of going stark raving bonkers along the way. But which agile methodology (if any) is right for your organization?Jim Highsmith knows all seven leading approaches like the back of his hand. In Agile Software Development Ecosystems, he compares all seven, helping you customize the right approach to your unique requirements. Drawing upon interviews with the creators of each methodology, he illuminates Scrum, the Dynamic Systems Development Method, CrystalMethods, Feature-Driven Development, Lean Development, his own Adaptive Software Development (ASD), and the best-known of them all, Kent Beck's eXtreme Programming.While there are significant differences among these methodologies, you shouldn't underestimate the challenge of implementing any of them in the traditional Dilbert-like software organization. For agility to work, you need more than a methodology, you need an "ecosystem" that supports it.Highsmith says agile "ecosystems" need to encompass three elements: collaborative values and principles, a methodology that's as light as possible, and a "chaordic" perspective that respects the fact that real-world organizations exhibit both chaos and order and can't be managed solely through conventional project management and development life-cycle practices. Along the way, he uses multiple case studies to illuminate what it takes to make each agile methodology work - and to offer practical help for folks who want to nudge their organization toward agility in any form. (Bill Camarda)Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For DummiesR, Second Edition.

In a highly volatile software development environment, developers must be nimble, responsive, and able to hit a moving target--in short, they must be agile. Agile software development is designed to address this need for speed and flexibility. Agility describes a holistic, collaborative environment in which you can both create and respond to change by focusing on adaptability over predictability, people over process. Agile software development incorporates proven software engineering techniques, but without the overhead and restrictions of traditional development methodologies. Above all, it fulfills its promise of delivering software that serves the client's business needs.

Written by one of the leaders of the Agile movement, and including interviews with Agile gurus Kent Beck, Robert Charette, Alistair Cockburn, Martin Fowler, Ken Schwaber, and Ward Cunningham, Agile Software Development Ecosystems crystallizes the current understanding of this flexible and highly successful approach to software development. It presents the key practices of all Agile development approaches, offers overviews of specific techniques, and shows how you can choose the approach that best suits your organization.

This book describes--in depth--the most important principles of Agile development: delivering value to the customer, focusing on individual developers and their skills, collaboration, an emphasis on producing working software, the critical contribution of technical excellence, and a willingness to change course when demands shift. All major Agile methods are presented:

• Scrum
• Dynamic Systems Development Method
• Crystal Methods
• Feature-Driven Development
• Lean Development
• Extreme Programming
• Adaptive Software Development

Throughout the book, case stories are used to illustrate how Agile practices empower success around the world in today's chaotic software development industry. Agile Software Development Ecosystems also examines how to determine your organization's Agile readiness, how to design a custom Agile methodology, and how to transform your company into a truly Agile organization.

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In this book, Jim Highsmith explains what agile software development methods are, how they compare, and how to make the most of them. He includes case studies and interviews with the leaders who are driving each approach