The Agile Samurai is organized into five parts: Introducing
Agile, Agile Project Inception, Agile Project Planning, Agile Project
Execution, and Creating Agile Software. The introduction is a quick section
that gives a brief introduction of the concept of agile software development.
Agile Project Inception focuses on what steps should be taken, looked at, and
discussed before beginning an agile project. Learning how to plan what will be
done in an agile project is covered in Agile Project Planning, which covers the
creation of user stories, estimation, and how to deal with the real world not
matching the ideal world. Agile Project Execution covers the practices of agile
software development that help keep the team organized and open as they work on
the project including: iterations, communication, and the visual workspace. The
focus on the coding aspect of things is in Creating Agile Software, which
covers unit testing, refactoring, TDD, and continuous integration.
Keeping the reader's interest was at the forefront of the
creation of this book. It is filled with asides, drawings, examples, cartoons,
and really keeps your mind active as you read through its pages. The book is
not filled with a bunch of fluff either. It keeps to the point and stays on
target.
Discussions between the Master Sensei and the aspiring Agile
Warrior can be found throughout the book. These serve to recap some of the
ideas that were just explained as well as to offer an interesting way of
handling possible questions the reader may have. In these, it is common for the
answers from one or the other to serve as great summaries of what was just
explained.
Icons and pictures are used to signify all kinds of things
throughout the book. Some point out when important principles are being
explained and some indicate an opportunity to take a break from reading to try
practicing something.
After reading through this book, you will have a great
understanding of a process you can follow to develop software in an agile team.
And to top it off, you will not have to read through a boring, lengthy book,
that is better at putting you to sleep than teaching you its material.