Reviews for Organizational Patterns of Agile Software Development

1. 100 Best Practices

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2009

   I came across this book some time ago and, to be frank, was put off by the title. Now that I've had a chance to read it properly, and as the authors agree, there is nothing specific to "Agile" in this book at all. What I can say, is that this book is one of the best books I've ever read on organizational patterns, period. And there are 100 patterns to choose from. This book is very well written and entertaining throughout - a pleasure to read. I can't recommend it highly enough for those of us that have to deal with the politics inside organizations, as well as the technical aspects.

2. Seminal work on Software Engineering

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2004

   [reviewing this for the second time since amazon lost the first one ;-(]

   I can only compare this work to Brooke's ''The Mythical Man Month'' and Weinberg's ''The Psychology of Computer Programming'' in terms of insight, honesty, experience, pragmatism and significance. If there was ever a minimal body of knowledge, that is a must read, for our young (compared to others) Software Engineering discipline, then this trilogy is it.

   Coplien and Harrison have spent more than a decade researching and observing highly productive software organisations, in order to capture and document the patterns that made them so productive. Finally all this knowledge has been captured in this great (in size and content;-) book.

   Organizational Patterns of Agile Software Development, demonstrates how in software engineering, little that is good is new. Spending more than a decade researching what works, what works better and what doesn't. Coplien and Harrison managed to clearly document this guide to organisational improvement.

   This is not a book about some theory, methodology or dogma, this is the reflection of reality and the recording of facts looking back into the past of software production. This past reveals a lot about how to properly experience and create our future of software production.

   This work shows the path and is the inspiration for improvement. Finally, there is no excuse not to try to improve or to repeat mistakes. There is no panacea, only hard work, but having all this knowledge at your fingertips, is damn powerful. Nobody can afford to ignore our collective knowledge captured in this book.

   This is Coplien's, easiest to read book, while his most significant. Both authors have written it in such a way as for the patterns and their associations to stay with you, long after you've finished the book.

   Weinberg explained to us the programmer, Brook taught us about the project, Coplien and Harrison bring us the knowledge about the software producing organisation.....the trilogy is complete !