Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams

The best thinking in the agile development community brought to street-level in the form of implementable strategy and tactics. Essential reading for anyone who shares the passion for creating quality software.--Eric Olafson, CEO TomaxCrystal Clear is beyond agile. This book leads you from software process hell to successful software development by practical examples and useful samples.--Basaki Satoshi, SchlumbergerA very powerful message, delivered in a variety of ways to touch the motivation and understanding of many points of view.--Laurie Williams, Assistant Professor, North Carolina State UniversityA broad, rich understanding of small-team software development based on observations of what actually works.--John RuskA superb synthesis of underlying principles and a clear description of strategies and techniques.--Gery Derbier, Project Manager, SolisticAlistair Cockburn shows how small teams can be highly effective at developing fit-for-purpose software by following a few basic software development practices and by creating proper team dynamics. teams that follow overly bureaucratic and prescriptive development processes.--Todd Little, Sr. Development Manager, Landmark GraphicsI find Cockburn s writings on agile methods enlightening: He describes how to do, of course, but also how to tell whether you re doing it right, to reach into the feeling of the project. This particular book s value is that actual project experiences leading to and confirming the principles and practices are so...well...clearly presented.--Scott Duncan, ASQ Software Division Standards Chair and representative to the US SC7 TAG and IEEE S2ESC Executive Committee and Management Board and Chair of IEEE Working Group 1648 on agile methods Crystal Clear identifies principles that work not only for software development, but also for any results-centric activities. Dr Cockburn follows these principles with concrete, practical examples of how to apply the principles to real situations and roles and to resolve real issues. involved with or have observed over the past 19 or so years have had many of the same characteristics as described in Crystal Clear (even the big projects). And many of the failed projects failed because they missed something--such as expert end-user involvement or accessibility throughout the project. The final story was a great read. Here was a project that in my opinion was an overwhelming success--high productivity, high quality, delivery, happy customer, and the fact that the team would do it again. The differing styles in each chapter kept it interesting. I started reading it and couldn t put it down, and by the end, I just had to say Wow! --Ron Holliday, Director, Fidelity Management ResearchCarefully researched over ten years and eagerly anticipated by the agile community, Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams is a lucid and practical introduction to running a successful agile project in your organization. Each chapter illuminates a different important aspect of orchestrating agile projects. of successful projects Case studies, examples, principles, strategies, techniques, and guiding properties Samples of work products from real-world projects instead of blank templates and toy problems Top strategies used by software teams that excel in delivering quality code in a timely fashion Detailed introduction to emerging best-practice techniques, such as Blitz Planning, Project 360, and the essential Reflection Workshop Question-and-answer with the author about how he arrived at these recommendations, including where they fit with CMMI, ISO, RUP, XP, and other methodologies A detailed case study, including an ISO auditor s analysis of the project Perhaps the most important contribution this book offers is the Seven Properties of Successful Projects. The author has studied successful agile projects and identified common traits they share. These properties lead your project to success; conversely, their absence endangers your project.(c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.