"The Art of Agile Development" by James Shore and Shane Warden Book Review

Extreme Programming (XP) has been around for many years now, but until very recent years has been more of an art than a science. Many spoke about how it had to be done, but few had practical experience of making it work. "The Art of Agile Development" makes a giant step in the right direction. I consider it a missing XP manual, written by an experienced XP practitioner.

We all know main principles of Extreme Programming. Books have been written about it, articles published, and many spears broken by the learned men. Did anyone ask himself a question why? Why does this particular principle make sense? Provide real examples and recommendations of how to practice it? How to get people to buy-in on things that are not obvious to mainstream? The common answer has been wrong for years: "You are either with us or you are not". Quite Marxist, isn't it?
We finally know that XP is no longer a religion: it's an empirical science based on professional experience of able managers and developers.

This book takes an art to the level of a science. It takes on the task of teaching us the real XP: with all the science necessary for the introductory book. It does it with an ease of a training class: with examples and counter examples, questions, and alternatives. Any subject, from Pair Programming to Testing Software Delivery: it is all here.

There is hardly a software process book that is so useful and informative yet easy to learn and understand: use it to learn about XP; use to look back at XP; and if something doesn't work out right, read it again, reflect, and you may just find an answer. We always like to learn from the best: the best minds, the best teachers, the best practitioners. This book is undoubtedly in that category.

Vlad