The Agile Idea

Great management for great code
Zigurd Mednieks
  • ISBN 9781617299315
  • 300 pages (estimated)
  • printed in black & white
We regret that we will not be publishing this title.
Look inside
Agile done right gives managers a secret weapon to deliver great software that serves the needs of all business stakeholders.

In The Agile Idea you will learn how to:

  • Distinguish core agile ideas from practices like Scrum and SAFe
  • Choose (or invent!) the right agile practices for your team
  • Resurrect failed projects
  • Build lines of communication throughout an organization
  • Communicate about software development with non-technical colleagues
  • Analyze projects using Gantt charts, critical path analysis, and resource leveling
  • Plan useful milestones that mark key achievements
  • Use decision making techniques like decision tree analysis and root cause analysis
  • Design tasks in Trello you can connect to Slack, GitHub, and an IDE
  • Adapt Agile techniques and other management frameworks to your organization’s needs
  • Make good decisions
The Agile Idea: Great management for great code explores the “why” behind Agile techniques, stripping back encrusted doctrine and jargon to reach Agile’s core principles. By building up an intuition about Agile, you’ll be equipped to choose, modify, and invent the right practices for your projects and teams. You’ll explore the foundational ideas in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, and build a new understanding of Agile that emphasises critical thinking over formulaic ritual.

about the technology

Agile project management has a twenty-year track record of guiding software projects to completion. Unfortunately, when Agile methods like Scrum and SAFe are practiced without a deep understanding of their underlying principles, you end up with failed projects, disenchanted developers, and teams that are isolated from the rest of the company. The Agile Idea illuminates the core concepts that make Agile work so you can be an effective manager for software development.

about the book

The Agile Idea lays out the ideas behind the Agile approach, why it works, and how to make it an asset for your software development. It’s written in plain English, with no sacrosanct processes you’re required to follow on faith. You’ll learn the fundamental principles from the Agile Manifesto that underpin all the variants of Agile methodology.

Discover how Agile is different from other project management styles, the reason it works so well for planning software development, and how to articulate the reasons to use Agile. Start designing milestones that are relevant to operational decision makers, and create an interface between software and other enterprise activities. Thanks to the book’s jargon-free approach, you’ll be able to communicate about software development in a way that senior management can understand, and keep your team relevant to the wider enterprise.

about the reader

For anyone who wants to become a more valuable manager of software projects. Scrum masters will learn the theory behind their practices, and senior managers will understand why Agile is the best method for creating software. No technical knowledge or previous experience of Agile required.

about the author

Zigurd Mednieks has managed software development projects for over 30 years.

I learned to look at project management with a different perspective, which is exactly what I wanted to get out of reading these chapters.

Richard Siegal

A great guide to fill in the empty spaces left over from "get the certificate" type books.

Christopher Kardell

This book does a great job of taking the Agile Manifesto and building upon that.

James Bishop

An excellent introduction to what Agile is and more importantly, what it is not.

Matthew Grossman

Solid introduction to Agile for those coming from semi technical backgrounds or from traditional Waterfall methods.

Ganesh Swaminmathan