Becoming Agile

Many books discuss Agile from a theoretical or academic perspective. Becoming Agile takes a different approach and focuses on explaining Agile from a case-study perspective. Agile principles are discussed, explained, and then demonstrated in the context of a case study that flows throughout the book. The case study is based on a mixture of the author's real-world experiences. Becoming Agile also focuses on the importance of adapting Agile principles to the realities of your environment. In the early days of Agile, there was a general belief that Agile had to be used in all phases of a project, and that it had to be used in its purest form. Over the last few years, reputable Agile authorities have begun questioning this belief: We're finding that the best deployments of Agile are customized to the realities of a given company. Becoming Agile discusses the cultural realities of deploying Agile and how to deal with the needs of executives, managers, and the development team during migration. The author discusses employee motivation and establishing incentives that reward support of Agile techniques. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book. Praise for Becoming Agile... "This is much more than just a book about Agile. This is a roadmap. A very detailed roadmap that takes you from the initial "is Agile right for me?" stage through completion and delivery of your pilot project and beyond." -Charlie Griefer, Senior Software Engineer, Amcom Technology "...a must read for those of us who have come from years of waterfall and attempts at changes to "traditional" methodologies or processes... clear, concise and has plenty of example scenarios that many individuals and corporations would identify with." -Jamie Phillips, Senior Software Engineer, Picis Inc "This book is quite unique. It is written in a form of a 5-day training course. I am usually not a fan of such a writing style, but I think that Becoming Agile is an exception. It's about a software process and as such requires a lot of case studies, group exercises (or at least what a book format allows), and therefore the training course style is perfect to facilitate learning." -Vladimir Pasman, Cocoacast.com "Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World offers a different and useful look at Agile methods. Reminding us that becoming agile is more of a mindset adjustment than a process change, Sidky and Smith use a case study to share their insights and tools throughout the book, including the unique Sidky Agile Measurement Index (SAMI)." -Sanjiv Augustine, President, LitheSpeed LLC and author of Managing Agile Projects "The authors emphasise that the aim should be to create a customised agile development process that is tailored to the needs of the organisation...Instead of aiming for "agile perfection", one should aim at reaching the right level of agility for one's organisation. Excellent advice!" -Kailash Awati, Eight to Late "The book totally inspired me. A lot of my readings on Agile from back in the day were very theoretical and high level at the same time. But Becoming Agile helps take you to the next level by going beyond the theory and into the nitty gritty practicality of employing the Agile approach. So it was very energizing having the game plan laid out in front of you, as well as the hurdles you'll encounter and how to overcome them." -Tariq Ahmed, author of Flex 3 in Action

A guide to successfully operating in a lean-agile organization for solutions architects and enterprise architects Key FeaturesDevelop the right combination of processes and technical excellence to address architectural challengesExplore a range of architectural techniques to modernize legacy systemsDiscover how to design and continuously improve well-architected sustainable softwareBook Description Many organizations have embraced Agile methodologies to transform their ability to rapidly respond to constantly changing customer demands. However, in this melee, many enterprises often neglect to invest in architects by presuming architecture is not an intrinsic element of Agile software development. Since the role of an architect is not pre-defined in Agile, many organizations struggle to position architects, often resulting in friction with other roles or a failure to provide a clear learning path for architects to be productive. This book guides architects and organizations through new Agile ways of incrementally developing the architecture for delivering an uninterrupted, continuous flow of values that meets customer needs. You'll explore various aspects of Agile architecture and how it differs from traditional architecture. The book later covers Agile architects' responsibilities and how architects can add significant value by positioning themselves appropriately in the Agile flow of work. Through examples, you'll also learn concepts such as architectural decision backlog,the last responsible moment, value delivery, architecting for change, DevOps, and evolutionary collaboration. By the end of this Agile book, you'll be able to operate as an architect in Agile development initiatives and successfully architect reliable software systems. What you will learnAcquire clarity on the duties of architects in Agile developmentUnderstand architectural styles such as domain-driven design and microservicesIdentify the pitfalls of traditional architecture and learn how to develop solutionsUnderstand the principles of value and data-driven architectureDiscover DevOps and continuous delivery from an architect's perspectiveAdopt Lean-Agile documentation and governanceDevelop a set of personal and interpersonal qualitiesFind out how to lead the transformation to achieve organization-wide agilityWho this book is for This agile study guide is for architects currently working on agile development projects or aspiring to work on agile software delivery, irrespective of the methodology they are using. You will also find this book useful if you're a senior developer or a budding architect looking to understand an agile architect's role by embracing agile architecture strategies and a lean-agile mindset. To understand the concepts covered in this book easily, you need to have prior knowledge of basic agile development practices.

"Becoming Agile" is a quick, helpful guide to Agile software development. You'll learn about the history of software development processes, the origins of Agile, and the principles that govern how Agile works. You'll also learn some new ideas about how to become more Agile in the product development process. If you're new to Agile, "Becoming Agile" will help you get started. If you're experienced, it will help you get better.

An in-depth example of The Agility Factor in action Becoming Agile: How the SEAM Approach to Management Builds Adaptability illustrates the process of becoming an agile organization. Reflecting the principles presented in The Agility Factor, readers are taken on a real-world journey of transformation and change. This short-format case study of the French company Brioche Pasquier highlights how one organization successfully implemented the principles of agility using the socio-economic approach to management, detailing each step of the process and describing how every decision brought the goal closer within reach. Readers get inside the heads of decision makers to gain insight into how tough decisions were made, how new, important, and flexible management tools were implemented, and how the necessary changes ultimately benefitted both the organization and the people who made it work. From overarching policy to day-to-day procedure, the story provides a clear example of how an agile organization is developed, giving readers a foundation upon which to implement similar changes in their own organization. Smart companies understand the importance of agility, but identifying where and how to initiate those first steps often leads to paralysis by analysis. This case study allows readers to learn from an organization that got through the inertia and put the principles of agility into action, with incredible results. Understand how the principles of agility can be implemented using a specific intervention strategy Tailor those principles to suit any organization Calculate and convert the "hidden costs" of traditional organizational design into flexible, value added activities Formulate and execute an actionable agility strategy Big changes require a deep understanding of the problem at hand, and a viable plan for steering the organization in a better direction. By seeing how it's been done before, organizations can take a proven approach and tailor it to their specific needs. For those tasked with formulating the agility strategy, Becoming Agile: How the SEAM Approach to Management Builds Adaptability provides invaluable insight.

The goal of this book is to explain and facilitate the journey to Agile. Becoming agile is an ongoing journey. As the global environment changes, and becomes more complex and more uncertain, the importance of increasing agility and developing an agile mindset grows. The goal of this book is to explain and facilitate the journey. We explore agile values, practices, and principles that can help people cope with volatile and ambiguous situations. Agile values improve processes and promote communication in an organization. Agile practices advance innovation through high-performance multidisciplinary teams. Agile is about learning to anticipate and respond appropriately to the unexpected. Being agile is about interactions with people that result in successfully completing work tasks and meeting objectives. Agile is not about blindly moving faster, rather it is about continuous flexibility and learning. This book is targeted to advanced students and managers who are interested in learning to be agile. This accessible practical text poses 30 questions and provides answers that provide a starting point for further reflection.

This book outlines how coaches and leaders use Agile frameworks and coaching psychology to create behavioural change and to lay the foundations of success. Using the latest coaching approaches from executive, team, and systemic team coaching, the book shows how coaches can use Agile frameworks at the level of mindset and behaviours. The book demonstrates well-known frameworks such as Scrum, DSDM, and Lean Startup to support change and success. Readers will learn about the Six Lenses of Systemic Team Coaching including the individual mindset, interpersonal skills, team working and collaboration skills, and awareness of the external business environment, to create true business agility. Becoming Agile is an indispensable resource for professional coaches who work with organisations that want to become Agile, as well as business leaders looking for a meaningful way to reap the benefits promised by agility. “This book is perfect for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and indeed anyone new to the world of agile leadership.” David Taylor, Founder, Naked Leader “Here we have a pragmatic and readily applicable approach to integrating both concept and practice across these two evolving domains.” David Clutterbuck, Special Ambassador, European Mentoring and Coaching Council “This book is a great resource for coaches who want to continue developing skills that will support leaders, teams, and organizations in building business agility.” Ahmed Sidky, Ph.D., President of the International Consortium for Agile (ICAgile) Laura Re Turner is an accredited coach, trainer, and facilitator who works with leaders and teams to develop an Agile mindset, behaviours, and the skills to thrive through change. Before becoming a coach, Laura delivered enterprise software projects as a project and programme manager, technology consultant, and software developer. She is the Founder and Managing Director of Future Focus Coaching.

Being Agile is your roadmap to successfully transforming your organization to an Agile culture. Veteran agile coach Mario Moreira teaches new adopters how to implement a robust Agile framework to derive from it the maximum business benefit in terms of customer value, revenue, and employee engagement. Agile is a ubiquitous watchword in the corporate world, but only a minority of companies understand and practice what they pay lip service to. Too many content themselves with half-baked approximations such as Fragile (fragile Agile), ScrumBut (Scrum but not the practices), and Scrum Fall (mini-waterfalls in the sprints). Moreira shows maturing early adopters how to bridge the chasm between going through the motions of doing Agile and genuinely being Agile. After a high-level synopsis of Agile’s values and principles, methodologies (including Scrum, Kanban, DSDM, Leam, VFQ, and XP), and roles, Moreira plunges into the nitty-gritty of how to apply the ready, implement, coach, and hone (RICH) deployment model to all phases of a project in such a way as to embody and inculcate agile values and principles at the team level and promote agile transformation across your organization's culture.