The Art of Agile Practice: A Composite Approach for Projects and Organizations (Advanced & Emerging Communications Technologies)

**The Art of Agile Practice: A Composite Approach for Projects and Organizations**presents a consistent, integrated, and strategic approach to achieving "Agility" in your business. Transcending beyond Agile as a software development method, it covers the gamut of methods in an organization—including business processes, governance standards, project management, quality management, and business analysis—to show you how to use this composite approach to enhance your ability to adapt and respond to evolving business requirements. The book is divided into three parts: 1. Introduces Agility and identifies the challenges facing organizations in terms of development and maintenance approaches 2. Presents Composite Agile Method and Strategy (CAMS) as a carefully constructed combination of process elements and illustrates its application to development, business management, business analysis, project management, and quality 3. Includes two Agile case studies, a comprehensive index, definitions of key acronyms, and appendices with a current list of Agile methods and interview summaries The book describes relevant metrics for the entire CAMS lifecycle and explains how to embed Agile practices within formal process-maps in projects. Filled with figures, case studies, and tables that illustrate key concepts, the text is ideal for a two- or three-day training course or workshop. It is also suitable for a 13-week education course for higher degree students that includes process discussions and consideration of Agile values at both software and business levels. The chapters are organized to correspond roughly to such lectures with an option to choose from the case study chapters. The Art of Agile Practice: A Composite Approach for Projects and Organizations presents a consistent, integrated, and strategic approach to achieving "Agility" in your business. Transcending beyond Agile as a software development method, it covers the gamut of methods in an organization—including business processes, governance standards, project management, quality management, and business analysis—to show you how to use this composite approach to enhance your ability to adapt and respond to evolving business requirements. The book is divided into three parts: Introduces Agility and identifies the challenges facing organizations in terms of development and maintenance approaches Presents Composite Agile Method and Strategy (CAMS) as a carefully constructed combination of process elements and illustrates its application to development, business management, business analysis, project management, and quality Includes two Agile case studies, a comprehensive index, definitions of key acronyms, and appendices with a current list of Agile methods and interview summaries The book describes relevant metrics for the entire CAMS lifecycle and explains how to embed Agile practices within formal process-maps in projects. Filled with figures, case studies, and tables that illustrate key concepts, the text is ideal for a two- or three-day training course or workshop. It is also suitable for a 13-week education course for higher degree students that includes process discussions and consideration of Agile values at both software and business levels. The chapters are organized to correspond roughly to such lectures with an option to choose from the case study chapters. This text for strategic decision makers, software developers and architects, project managers, quality managers, and researchers can be used for a three-day training workshop or for a 13-week course covering Agile at the software and business levels. The book treats Agility as a strategic approach to leading, managing, and operating all types of business organizations. Part 1 introduces concepts and practical challenges of Agility, and part 2 presents an original Composite Agile Method and Strategy (CAMS) and explains how to use it for development, collaboration, business analysis, project management, and quality testing. Part 3 presents two Agile case studies: an outsourced project, and the use of CAMS in an insurance business. Appendices list associations and standards and describe role-based CAMS metrics. The book also includes excerpts from interviews of real-life developers, architects, business analysts, and project managers, mainly from the financial, insurance, banking, and mortgage sector in Australia. Learning features include chapter objectives, discussion questions, b&w process diagrams, and summary tables. Unhelkar, an ICT strategist and Agile consultant, teaches at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)