Many books discuss Agile from a theoretical or academic perspective.
Becoming Agile takes a different approach and focuses on explaining
Agile from a case-study perspective. Agile principles are discussed,
explained, and then demonstrated in the context of a case study that
flows throughout the book. The case study is based on a mixture of the
author's real-world experiences.
Becoming Agile also focuses on the importance of adapting Agile
principles to the realities of your environment. In the early days of
Agile, there was a general belief that Agile had to be used in all
phases of a project, and that it had to be used in its purest form. Over
the last few years, reputable Agile authorities have begun questioning
this belief: We're finding that the best deployments of Agile are
customized to the realities of a given company.
Becoming Agile discusses the cultural realities of deploying Agile and
how to deal with the needs of executives, managers, and the development
team during migration. The author discusses employee motivation and
establishing incentives that reward support of Agile techniques.
Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and
Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.
Praise for Becoming Agile...
This is much more than just a book about Agile. This is a roadmap. A
very detailed roadmap that takes you from the initial is Agile right for
me? stage through completion and delivery of your pilot project and
beyond.
-Charlie Griefer, Senior Software Engineer, Amcom Technology
...a must read for those of us who have come from years of waterfall and
attempts at changes to traditional methodologies or processes... clear,
concise and has plenty of example scenarios that many individuals and
corporations would identify with.
-Jamie Phillips, Senior Software Engineer, Picis Inc
This book is quite unique. It is written in a form of a 5-day training
course. I am usually not a fan of such a writing style, but I think that
Becoming Agile is an exception. It's about a software process and as
such requires a lot of case studies, group exercises (or at least what a
book format allows), and therefore the training course style is perfect
to facilitate learning.
-Vladimir Pasman, Cocoacast.com
Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World offers a different and useful look
at Agile methods. Reminding us that becoming agile is more of a mindset
adjustment than a process change, Sidky and Smith use a case study to
share their insights and tools throughout the book, including the unique
Sidky Agile Measurement Index (SAMI).
-Sanjiv Augustine, President, LitheSpeed LLC and author of Managing
Agile Projects
The authors emphasise that the aim should be to create a customised
agile development process that is tailored to the needs of the
organisation...Instead of aiming for agile perfection, one should aim at
reaching the right level of agility for one's organisation. Excellent
advice!
-Kailash Awati, Eight to Late
The book totally inspired me. A lot of my readings on Agile from back in
the day were very theoretical and high level at the same time. But
Becoming Agile helps take you to the next level by going beyond the
theory and into the nitty gritty practicality of employing the Agile
approach. So it was very energizing having the game plan laid out in
front of you, as well as the hurdles you'll encounter and how to
overcome them.
-Tariq Ahmed, author of Flex 3 in Action
