The Mini Book of Agile

Mauricio Rubio

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781803244914
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Operations
• Index: Business

Learn all about Agile, Agile project management, and Agile Delivery to put Agile into practice at work and in your personal projectsKey Features• Explore the key concepts of Agile development, Agile project delivery, and Agile project management• Study the different Agile concepts such as user stories, story points, epics, and product backlog• Understand why Agile is different from traditional project delivery and other methodologiesBook DescriptionThink of this book as Agile for Dummies (or Agile for anyone and everyone). This Agile book will allow you to master the most important concepts of Agile development, Agile project delivery, and Agile project management. This mini book has been designed to enable you to manage your projects in an Agile way.This mini book will walk you through the fundamentals, principles, and key concepts of Agile, Agile project management, and Agile Delivery.The book includes valuable resources, graphics, and examples that will allow you to grasp the key essence of Agile, Agile rituals, Agile practices, Agile concepts, and the key differences between Agile and traditional project management.After reading this book, you will have a thorough understanding of Agile and how to put Agile into practice at work and in your personal projects.What you will learn• Review the background and function of Agile and its advantages• Encounter the differences between Agile and Waterfall• Explore Agile principles, culture, and roles• Explore fundamental concepts, Agile artifacts, rituals• Become familiar with some important Agile toolsWho this book is forThis book is for anyone who wants to learn the fundamentals, principles, and key concepts of Agile, Agile project management, and Agile Delivery. No prior Agile experience or knowledge is necessary.

Chapter 1: Introduction

At its core Agile is simple, lean, minimalistic. So a book about Agile should be a reflection of that itself, an MVP or Minimum Viable Product that only considers what you really need to know about Agile. And so, this book was born.

 

Chapter 2: What is Agile?

Agile is an iterative, time-boxed approach for managing projects. It has a strong focus on continuous improvement, quick delivery and customer value. You deliver often, deliver quickly and place the customer at the center of every decision you make while improving over time.

Some consider Agile a framework, others a methodology but that's probably not really important, what you really need to know is that Agile is a different approach to traditional Project Management or Product Development that will ultimately help you reach your goals faster, on time and on budget. But generally under budget and often ahead of the planned schedule.

 

Chapter 3: Why go Agile?

The value from going Agile comes from how it empowers teams to deliver increments, new versions or iterations of products or services quickly and often while continuously improving over short periods of time.

Agile embraces change and remains flexible at all times. Hence, it allows the team to quickly shift when and where required to meet customer needs and demands. This translates into higher customer value, engagement and satisfaction.

 

Chapter 4: How it all began

Officially people trace the beginning of Agile to the publication of the Agile Manifesto in 2001. This was the result of the gathering of a small group of developers who met in the U.S. to define the Agile principles and fundamentals, ultimately reflected in the Manifesto.

But the reality is Agile's roots come from before that time, going as back as the 1950's to Japan and the U.S. where some of the core Agile concepts started to take form.

 

Chapter 5: The Different Agile Methodologies

Agile methodologies include but are not limited to the following:

• Adaptive software development (ASD)
• Agile modeling
• Agile unified process (AUP)
• Disciplined agile delivery
• Dynamic systems development method (DSDM)
• Extreme programming (XP)
• Feature-driven development (FDD)
• Kanban
• Lean software development
• Rapid application development (RAD)
• Scrum
• Scrumban

Of all the different Agile methodologies out there, Scrum is the most popular and widely used given its simplicity, ease of implementation and lean approach.

And of course even though there are differences between the different Agile methodologies, at heart they all share the same underlying principles, fundamentals and values.

 

Chapter 6: Agile Principles

Agile as a methodology and culture is based on the following principles. If you read them carefully you will understand the essence of Agile and what Agile's all about.

 

1. Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of useful software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development.
3. Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months).
4. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers.
5. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted.
6. Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location).
7. Working software is the principal measure of progress.
8. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design.
10. Simplicity - only build what is really essential.
11. Self-organizing teams.
12. Regular adaptation to changing circumstance.

 

Chapter 7: The Agile Culture

More than anything Agile is a culture. Beyond it being a framework or methodology, it's the rituals, principles, tools, artifacts and practices that s...

Table of contents

• Chaper 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: What is Agile?
• Chapter 3: Why go Agile?
• Chapter 4: How it all began
• Chapter 5: The Different Agile Methodologies
• Chapter 6: Agile Principles
• Chapter 7: The Agile Culture
• Chapter 8: Agile Roles
• Chapter 9: Agile Concepts
• Chapter 10: Agile Artifacts
• Chapter 11: Agile Rituals
• Chapter 12: Agile Tools
• Chapter 13: Agile vs. Waterfall
• Chapter 14: Agile FAQs
• Chapter 15: Agile Myths
• Chapter 16: The Agile Knowledge Base | AgileKB.com