Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small ... (ISBN 0201699478)

A realistic agile methodology...:
While I like the general concepts behind agile development methodologies, sometimes they seem to be focused on speed with a disregard for any documentation. Alistair Cockburn has an agile methodology that appears more palatable in today's environments... Crystal Clear : A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams. Contents: Explained (View from the Outside); Applied (The Seven Properties); In Practice (Strategies and Techniques); Explored (The Process); Examined (The Work Products); Misunderstood (Common Mistakes); Questioned (Frequently Asked); Tested (A Case Study); Distilled (The Short Version); References; Index The tendency to want to compare Crystal Clear (CC) to XP is something that can't be ignored. In fact, Cockburn addresses this in the Questioned section. He sums it up by saying that XP is stricter in several ways and more loose in a few. XP wants shorter iterations, CC can be longer. XP calls for pair programming, CC permits it. XP requires a customer to be an active member of the team, CC wants easy access to one. XP requires no documentation, CC does. It's probably that last point that makes CC an easier sell in a business environment. Some methodologies are documentation-heavy (like RUP) and some are documentation-absent (like XP). CC strikes a balance between documenting what needs to be known and remembered by the group, without having multiple binders of paper as a "product" to explain every last iota of code. While XP is the methodology that has all the mindshare these days, I think I feel more comfortable as a developer using something like CC. If you're looking to slim down your development methodology or add some structure to a seemingly ad-hoc XP methodology, this book might be what you're looking for...

Informative:
Lots of relevent information about Software Development project management. It give insight into ways of dealing with stuff I see every day at work. I am about 1/3 of they way through, it is well laid out, I'd recommend it for anyone that is a technology development group and want some good ideas for how to deal with projects.

Just starting out with "agile"? Try Crystal before XP.:
The Crystal methodology is extremely lightweight, and is not saddled with the percieved "rules" of XP. This is *the* guidebook for the Crystal familiy. Pick a few of the 7 properties and get started building better software!

Excellent Writing:
Cockburn's writing style is fluid, the agile development topic is interesting, and his experience is very valuable.

A practical wise guide for high-productivity software development with small teams:
Alistair Cockburn is a scholar of software methods, especially agile methods. These focus on behaviors that produce software successfully in light of environmental pressures such as resource limitations or uncertain requirements. This book describes an approach to achieving high productivity with teams of under a dozen people, especially those where risks associated with failure are minor. He breaks the world into different levels of risk (from minor discomfort to loss of life) and size of development team (from under a dozen to hundreds). Crystal Clear focuses on the set of small and minor risks, but it's broadly applicable. He identifies 3 most important qualities the method achieves: safety, productivity, and habitability. To address these he identifies 7 method features, 3 of which are critical: frequent delivery, reflective improvement, and osmotic communication. The other 4 are desirable but not always essential. The book is a delight to read, very practical, and full of wisdom.