Introduction to Agile Methods

10 reviews for Introduction to Agile Methods

1. 

   Daryl – December 13, 2025

   Informative and a good read
   I purchased this as the textbook for a course I’m taking while working on my master’s. Unlike a pretty large portion of such books, the authors wrote this in a style that feels less like beating information into your head and more like a fun read. Still, it’s informative and concise in detail. Definitely recommend it if you’re interested in learning about Agile.

2. 

   Hiram Houghton – December 13, 2025

   Four Stars
   Enjoyed reading.

3. 

   Shayna – December 13, 2025

   Very helpful! Thank You!
   Very helpful, will be sharing with not only my team but past colleagues and friends in this industry !!!

4. 

   Janet Rice – December 13, 2025

   I Was Looking For a Good Textbook on Agile and Found It!
   First, as a disclaimer, I am a software testing consultant and also a project life cycle consultant. Although I train teams in agile testing methods, I do not consider myself an agile evangelist. There are many things about agile methods I like, but there are also things that trouble me about some agile methods. I work with organizations that use a wide variety of project life cycle approaches and believe that one approach is not appropriate in all situations. In this review, I want to avoid getting into the weeds of sequential life cycles versus agile, the pros and cons of agile, and instead focus on the merits of the book itself.Since the birth of agile, I have observed that agile methods keep evolving and it is hard to find in one place a good comparison of the various agile methodologies. I have been looking for a good book that I could use in a learning context and I think this book is the one.One of the issues that people experience in learning agile is that the early works on the topic are from the early experiences in agile. We are now almost fifteen years into the agile movement and many lessons have been learned. While this book references many of the early works, the authors present the ideas in a more recent context.This is a very easy to read book and very thorough in it’s coverage of agile methods. I also appreciate that the authors are up-front about some of the pitfalls of certain methods in some situations.The book is organized as a learning resource, with learning objectives, case studies, review questions and exercises, so one could easily apply this book “as-is” as the basis for training agile teams. An individual could also use this book as a self-study course on agile methods. There is also a complete glossary which helps in getting the terms down and a good index, which helps in using the book as a reference.The chapter on testing provided an excellent treatment of automating agile tests, and manual testing was also discussed. In my opinion, there could have been more detail about how to test functionality from an external perspective, such as the role of functional test case design in an agile context. Too many people only test the assertions and acceptance-level tests without testing the negative conditions. The authors do, however, emphasize that software attributes such as performance, usability, and others should be tested. The “hows” of those forms of testing are not really discussed in detail. You would need a book that dives deeper into those testing topics.I also question how validation is defined and described, relying more on surveys than actual real-world tests. Surveys are fine, but they don’t validate specific use of the product and features. If you want true validation, you need real users performing tests based on how they intend to use a product.There is significant discussion on the importance of having a quality-minded culture, which is foundational for any of the methods to deliver high-quality software. This includes the ability to be open about discussing defects.To me, the interviews were interesting, but some of the comments were a little concerning. However, I realize they are the opinions of agile practitioners and I see quite a bit of disagreement between experts at the conferences, so I really didn’t put a lot of weight in the interviews.One nitpick I have is that on the topic of retrospectives, the foundational book, “Project Retrospectives” by Norm Kerth was not referenced. That was the book that changed the industry term “post-mortem” to what we now know as “retrospectives” and also laid the basis for the retrospective practice as we know it today.My final thought is that the magic is not in the method. Whether using agile methods or sequential life cycles, like waterfall, it takes more than simply following a method correctly. If there are issues such team strife, stakeholder disengagement and other organizational maladies, then agile or any other methodology will not fix that. A healthy software development culture is needed, along with a healthy enterprise culture and understanding of what it takes to build and deliver great software.I can highly recommend this book for people who want to know the distinctions between agile methods, those that want to improve their practices and for management that may feel a disconnect in their understanding of how agile is being performed in their organization. This book is also a great standalone learning resource!

5. 

   Mark Stauffer – December 13, 2025

   Great book on Agile
   This was a great introductory book to outlining the Agile methodology. The language was not overly technical and the examples / use cases were very helpful in articulating the points. The chapter on Culture did a good job defining the expectations for each stakeholder (team member, manager, executive, etc.), and it makes for good review before trying to have a conversation with a stakeholder not familiar with the process. I routinely reference back to Chapter 4 (Roles) and Chapter 5 (Requirements Gathering) when embarking on new or challenging assignments. Terrific book!

6. 

   Mark Kilby – December 13, 2025

   A good overview of agile principles and practices
   A good overview of agile principles and practices. I wanted to provide detailed feedback in a way I have found useful over the years. Greats are self-explanatory. It was what was great in the work. Gifts are suggestions that can be acted upon or not.Greats:The arrangement; of chapters are a great sequence for understanding the changes of an agile transformation by focusing first on fundamentals concepts (Chapters 1-4: origins, organizational change, roles) and then the process mechanics of change (Chapters 5-8)The chapter on types of agile (Chapter 3) shows there is more than one approach. While Scrum gets the most attention these days, I often find techniques from other methodologies can be useful.The fictional Cayman Design example throughout the chapters will help those new to agile understand how the practices may be applied.The interviews at the end of each chapter with agile thought leaders help provide additional insights into agile principles and practicesChapter 9, Agile Beyond IT, is a jewel in showing that agile is not just for software teams. Any work that takes place in a rapidly changing environment is a good fit for agile approaches.Gifts:Chapter 6 (Grooming and planning) doesn’t mention that the Scrum Alliance is moving away from the term “grooming” as it is considered offensive in some cultures. The new term is “backlog refinement”.Kanban is described briefly in two pages in Chapter 3 but then explained in more detail (in five pages) in Chapter 8 as a tracking technique. This could confuse some readers to devalue kanban as an alternate methodology. It may be better to put the longer description in Chapter 3 and to describe in Chapter 3 that kanban is an approach for limiting work by workflow stage instead of by iteration.On page 88-89, the chicken and pigs concept is described as introduced by a cartoon series. Actually, it was introduced by Ken Schwaber in the first Scrum classes taught 2004-2005. Furthermore, the Scrum community started to move away from the term “chicken and pigs” for the reasons described in this article https://www.scrum.org/About/All-Articles/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/90/Chickens-and-PigsCase Study – John Deere: While interesting to provide this longer example of an agile transition, the organization of this case study was confusing having the multiple voices providing different perspective. It may have been better to identify the role AND the name of each interviewee each time rather than just at the beginning of this chapter. Also, it was troubling that they mention product owners also taking on role of scrummaster. Generally, this can lead to problems with a Scrum implementation, but this didn’t seem to be indicated in the case study or the chapter on roles.Despite some of these shortcomings, I would still recommend this book and have already given a copy to someone I know trying to implement agile with their team.

7. 

   Sydnni – December 13, 2025

   Wonderful book, prepares you for IT career
   This book was awesome. I love the order in which it was structured in each chapter with the important content, then secondary content, then a conclusion, summary, and an interview with a leading expert. The authors are very educated in the subject and did a wonderful job making it easy to understand. After renting this book, I am now paying the extra money to actually own it. I am doing this because I know that to make it in the technology industry today, I am going to need to know everything in this book.

8. 

   Kenneths – December 13, 2025

   Easy to understand
   Just start reading a bit. It is quit easy to understand. It can also give insight to manager to have another perspective to manage his/her work.

9. 

   Dr Jonno – December 13, 2025

   Covered all the necessary agile topics in enough depth for management overview, to introduce to a team or to reinforce to a team that is already working agile.

10. 

    Maria Breslin – December 13, 2025

    Great book, very detailed, a good guide for teaching