Exploring Extreme Programming
The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen. HarperBusiness, 2000. Companies often get successful by giving customers what they want. New companies may begin with a product that is less functional but better on a dimension valued by non-customers. By the time the Continue reading Review – The Innovator’s Dilemma
Quality Software Management, Volume 3: Congruent Action, Gerald M. Weinberg, Dorset House, 1994. Considers software management from the perspective of family therapist Virginia Satir. People can take different incongruent stances: placating, blaming, super-reasonable, or irrelevant. But a congruent stance is Continue reading Review – Quality Software Management, vol. 3: Congruent Action
Quality Software Management, Volume 1: Systems Thinking, Gerald M. Weinberg, Dorset House, 1992. Starts with “What is quality?” Looks at management patterns for software development, and highlights the importance of feedback. Uses system models (that show interconnections with reinforcing and Continue reading Review – Quality Software Management, vol. 1: Systems Thinking
Agile Software Development with Scrum, Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle. Prentice Hall, 2001. Scrum explicitly relies on the emergence of a true team. By focusing on 30-day sprints, daily standup meetings, and management’s ability to remove obstacles, a team has Continue reading Reivew – Agile Software Development with Scrum
Software Craftsmanship, Pete McBreen. Addison-Wesley, 2001. Makes the case that software is neither art nor science, but craft, and that we should organize our education and work life to reflect that. (Reviewed Nov., ’02)
Agile Software Development Ecosystems, Jim Highsmith. Addison-Wesley, 2002. Descriptions of several agile methods, and Interviews with their creators. (Reviewed Nov., ’02)
Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems, Jim Highsmith. Dorset House, 2000. (Reviewed Nov., ’02)
Agile Software Development, Alistair Cockburn. Addison-Wesley, 2001. An excellent overview of agile development. “Software as a cooperative game of invention and communication.” Individuals and teams. Charts as “information radiators.” Describing methodology (it’s harder than it looks). Methodological success: it delivered, Continue reading Review – Agile Software Development (Cockburn)
Agile Modeling, Scott Ambler. Wiley, 2002. Agile Modeling focuses on a particular problem: how to model well but quickly. (It’s not attempting to be a complete methodology, but rather a part that plugs into another methodology.) (Reviewed Nov., ’02)
Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in Your Life through Writing and Storytelling, Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox. J.P. Tarcher, 1989. Ways to think about your life as a story. (Reviewed Nov., ’02)