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Title: Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn ISBN: 0-201-69969-9 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.32 (19 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good agile overview, but a bit longer than it needs to be
Comment: The high points were all of the great attitude around how to tune a methodology to your specific team, project, and environment. It emphasizes a lot of the crucial points around the people differences that are critical to success.
The downside is that a cover-to-cover reading will feel a bit belabored; the point could've been made in a bit less space. Especially noticiable were the places where sections had been copy/pasted from earlier sections of the book. I can see where it adds to random-search readability, but the third time I read the same anecdote, I was feeling a bit abused.
Also, there was a very interesting framework around 'levels of criticality' that I was really interested in. However, he had one category that implied loss-of-life. Okay, I got that. Then, later in the book, he talks about categorizing a financial project (that nowhere involved mafia hitmen) as that level! I guess I understood the analysis process, but the labeling of the levels totally lead me down the wrong path. I was thinking space shuttle, and he went RC racer. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I left the book not too confident that I was as grounded in the categorization process as I could've been.
Rating: 5
Summary: Teaches you how to be successful
Comment: In this book, Alistair Cockburn gives amazing insight into what successful software development is all about. It is an essential read for anyone involved in a software development project.
The "successful" word is very important - I have read many books on software development that provide helpful techniques and methodologies, but don't really have much bearing on the success of your project. I have seen specific techniques and methodologies applied extremely successfully in some teams on some projects, and really poorly for others. Personally, I am interested in being very successful in every project I embark on, and Cockburn's book is the only one I have ever read that contains everything you need to know to be successful every time. It is the essence of software development.
Over the years I've developed a good feel for how a great project runs, but have found it remarkably hard to communicate what it is that makes the difference between successful and failed projects. I was delighted to find that Alistair Cockburn has worked out how to articulate the difference and how to make sure that your projects are the successful ones.
For anyone that has done the hard yards through real-world software development projects where time-to-market is a crucial factor, you will be overjoyed when reading this book. You will find you now have a vocabulary to use when talking to others about your projects. After every chapter you will find yourself bursting with excitement to tell someone about what you have learned. The book will change the way you look at your projects and will give you the key to being successful.
For novices to software development, read this book and count yourself lucky that you found it right at the start of your career. The amount you will gain from Cockburn's insight is immeasurable.
Rating: 1
Summary: Fluffy, Arrogant, Wrong Title
Comment: I am suprised to see so many 5 star reviews. They must be friends with the author, or very ignorant. I just finished reading half of this text tonight (about 125 pages, over the course of a few months), and I plan to go no further with it. I was planning on finishing it but I just can't stand reading it. I skimmed the rest, finding the same drab boring text throughout. First off, the author is very cocky, and attempts to demonstrate his superior "level 3" attitude throughout the text. This can be very annoying to read. Second, the text is written as if it were a thesis. He makes -constant- references to other texts such as (Shmo, Software Engineering). Write something original already! Sometimes it's important to make references, but he makes so many of them that the text itself appears to me as just a collection of references. Further, several times throughout the text he makes...references to his own texts such as (Alistair, Crystal Clear). Not only that but he makes references to texts that he has not written yet! (e.g. Alistair, Text, forthcoming) Also, this text should perhaps be more accurately titled 'Analysis of Software Methodologies'. The first part of the text contains extremely generalistic fluff, where the author puts down the reader in so many subtle ways. The next part of the text provides an analysis of various practices that are used in methodologies, which is partially useful, but the text is written in such an annoying and undigestible manner that it gives me this sick feeling when reading it. The third part of the text provides examples of actual methodlogies, but is too general to be of any practical use. Despite not liking this text several dozen pages in, I made a real attempt at finishing it since I paid for it, but I just can't finish it. This text just doesn't work for me. I dislike the author's writing style and I would not recommend it to anyone. From what I read so far, the useful portions of this text can be boiled down to a few HTML pages on a website. This text is no 'masterpiece' as another reader put it. He must be friends with the author. If you're looking for a true masterpiece read The Pragmatic Programmer by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas... a truly intelligent and practical text!
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Title: Agile Modeling: Effective Practices for Extreme Programming and the Unified Process by Scott W. Ambler, Ron Jeffries ISBN: 0471202827 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 22 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
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Title: Agile Software Development with SCRUM by Ken Schwaber, Mike Beedle ISBN: 0130676349 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 15 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.95 |
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Title: Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn ISBN: 0201702258 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck ISBN: 0201616416 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 05 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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Title: Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices by Robert C. Martin ISBN: 0135974445 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $55.00 |
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