Review: The Agile Samurai
 
Published: 09 Aug 2011
Abstract
Agile software development has been and is still growing in popularity within the software industry. The Agile Samurai: How Agile Masters Deliver Great Software is a practical guide to performing agile based on the experience and expertise of Jonathan Rasmusson, the author of the book. In this review, Brendan Enrick discusses The Agile Samurai and describes his opinion of this agile software development resource.
by Brendan Enrick
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Summary

The Agile Samurai takes a unique approach to discussing agile development making it a fun and easy to remember book. It shares some qualities with other agile software development books, because it is written by an agile practitioner with plenty of real-world experience and expertise. Practical advice and guidelines for delivering great software are offered all through the book. I would recommend this book to all members of agile development teams as well as people planning on joining agile teams.

Review

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.

About the Book

Title

The Agile Samurai: How Agile Masters Deliver Great Software

Author

Jonathan Rasmusson

Publisher

Pragmatic Bookshelf

Pages

280

Price

US $34.95

Rating

*****

Related URL

http://pragprog.com/book/jtrap/the-agile-samurai

 



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