Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World (Pragmatic Bookshelf)

I was introduced to agile development through several other Pragmatic Programmer books, and I've learned a great deal about agile methodologies and practices from each one.This book, however, tops them all in terms of: - Writing style, - Organization and tips, - Ideas that are presented, and - Overall usefulness.I love the writing style that Andy Hunt and Venkat Subramaniam use throughout the book. They are very fluid writers, and have no problem expressing complex thoughts simply.So, onto things in the book!Each chapter contains several small sub-sections, each of which is a few pages in length. They all start with a quote from a devil (your lazy programmer side), and then explain a certain agile methodology, and finish with an angel quote (your *good* programming side).I found that each sub-section is structured in the best possible way to really explain why a method is better than another, how it should feel when you do it the right way, and what it is all about.Each chapter also explains how to transition yourself (and your team) to use the new agile methods successfully, which was a HUGE bonus. So many books talk about why agile is good, and how it rocks, but can't explain how to get people to start using it.In my own experience, it is easy to want to improve my own work, but I have a hard time motivating my peers to do the same.If you're looking for an amazing book that will help you (and your team) write smarter, faster, simpler, and more flexible code, than you need to read this book.

Some good ideas, well thought out and presented.

I really like this book as an introduction to agile methodologies and a discussion of good software development principals. The text was very accessible and made for an easy quick read. The author used devils and angels on our shoulder to explain good software practices and shun us away from the bad. Much as in real life we often have a devil and angel talking to use when making tough decisions. The book even explains what it should feel like when you are following an agile methodology and warns of potential obstacles. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to further develop their knowledge of software engineering principals or just become a better software developer.

Practices is pretty well just that - a list of practices for agile programmers. If you haven't done agile before or are just getting started, then this will provide you a good primer for getting a handle on the most important practices that span most of the agile methodologies - XP, Scrum, Crystal, etc. It is very readable and is organized in a way that you can use it for reference later to look up specifics about each practice.What makes the book only average however is the general way that it defends each practice. In contast to another Pragmatic Programmer title, "Ship It!", there is a lack of explaination of the "why" of each practice. In some cases, they take a shot at explaining why, but it general terms that aren't really compelling. (They certainly won't be compelling if management or your peers are skeptical of agile practices.)Even if you believe in agile, as I do, you need to understand why you do certain things and how each of those practices fit together to support each other. Software development isn't about blindly following a process - you have to understand what you are doing. For that, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Reading this book is helping me label my habits as "good" and "bad". It is very hard to know this after only a handful of years as a developer. This book feels like you are being mentored by a very wise person that has been there and back again. Some of it is common sense but there is still too much "noise" out there from "heavy" process practitioners that think that pretty diagrams, formal design artifacts and extensive documentation are more important than writing good code, working well with others and keeping the customer involved.I DEFINITELY plan to read "Pragmatic Starter Kit" books, "Ship It!" and "The Productive Programmer" as soon as I can. I am convinced these will all make me a better developer.

I churned through this book in about two weeks and will probably read through it again here soon. There are a lot of practical things which relate directly to my daily job and to working with teams. I would recommend the book to any developer seeking to improve their trade. Now to start implementing these ideas one at a time and tweaking them to fit my work environment!

Not for me, but arrived fine.

Purchase went well and item arrived fast, all as expected!I'm leaving 5 stars but I'm not paid for this nor do I get items for free.

Ein gutes Buch, mit kurzen Texten (ein paar Seiten) zu unterschiedlichsten agilen Methoden und Herangehensweisen. Sie eigenen sich gut dazu jeden Tag einen zu lesen um regelmäßig neue Anregungen bzw. Auffrischungen zum agilen Entwickeln zu bekommen.

This book is great even if you think you already know Agile. Not only will it reinforce the good stuff and call you on the bad stuff, it will massively help you with the right explanation for people who don't know Agile yet!

Das Buch biete einen guten Überblick über die agile Entwicklung, und deren Vorteile. Es gibt fast ausschließlich theoretischen Inhalt, Szenarien, Ursachen und deren Lösungsansätze. Von dort aus muss man sich über weitere Fachbücher oder Onlineinhalte in die für sich interessanten Bereiche einarbeiten. Wie gesagt, als Überblick und als Wegweiser ist dieses Buch sehr gut, und ich kann es in der Hinsicht weiterempfehlen.

Helpful for anyone eager to get agile. Well organized and written, right to the point.Recommended to software developers, architects and people managing dev teams.