Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsBest Agile Book I've Read, You MUST Read It
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2010
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.
