This page is a repository for various worthwhile sources on Agile and XP methodologies, which I have come across in my wanderings. Hopefully, you’ll find something to interest you here, if you’re into these sorts of things.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the basic ideas, here are some of the common associated terms (others might have different ideas on how to describe these):
- Agile Development Practices – A light-weight methodology that allows teams to develop software in the face of vague and rapidly changing requirements. See principles & goals, below.
- XP (eXtreme Programming)* – A development process that can be used by small to medium-sized development teams to create high quality software within a predictable schedule and budget and with a minimum of overhead. the main aim of XP is to reduce the cost of change.
- Scrum* – carrying development cycles through adaptably, as a team. Scrum, like Agile is not only used as a part of software development, it is used in a whole range of fields including marketing and manufacturing.
* - sometimes considered to be part of Agile
Agile and it’s related methodologies (of which there are a few) are seen as diametrically opposed to the waterfall model, which is the traditional model associated with the systems development life cycle (SDLC).
So here’s the list, first by author, and then by website if no author is given for a particular publication. Some of these I’ve only seen reviewed, others I’ve read, some I’ve just scanned through.
By Author
- http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html#Crystal - The mighty Martin fowler gives us some perspective and background on methodologies presently out in the wild.
- http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Software-Development-Cooperative-Game/dp/0321482751
Alistair Cockburn’s book on software development as a cooperative game, as in von Neumann’s game theory. Have yet to get my hands on a copy but I’ve read the talk Cockburn gave on this which, when he’s not waffling, makes a great deal of sense. It was a concept I came to through my own deliberations, googled it, and found this material. - http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Estimating-Planning-Robert-Martin/dp/0131479415
I saw this one in the Waterstone’s on Piccadilly recently, had a brief look through it. It occurred to me what a massive positive impact a simple book like this can have on the ability of a company to leverage their developers to the maximum for profit-making. Ultimately good planning makes for success, and effective estimating is an absolutely integral part of that process.
By Website
- http://www.agilemanifesto.org/
The one, the only, the original Agile Manifesto as assembled by the masters (we whisper their names in hushed tones) - http://c2.com/cgi/wiki
Although only recently revealed to me, this is now easily my favourite site (aside from wikipedia!). c2.com was the world’s first ever wiki, created by two of the masters of XP, Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham.
