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Product Description
Product Description
This comprehensive set of cards is an indispensable resource for agile teams. The deck of Agile in a Flash cards teaches leadership, teamwork, clean programming, agile approaches to problem solving, and tips for coaching agile teams. Team members can use the cards as reference material, ice breakers for conversations, reminders (taped to a wall or monitor), and sources of useful tips and hard-won wisdom. The cards are:
Bite-sized! Read one practice or aspect at a time in a couple of minutes.
Smart! Each card has years of practical experience behind it.
Portable! Cards fit easily in your pocket or backpack.
An indispensable tool for any agile team, and a must-have for every agile coach or Scrum Master.
The Agile in a Flash deck is broken into four areas: planning, team, coding, and agile concepts. The front of each card is a quick list - a summary of the things you want to know and remember. The back provides further detail on each of the bullet points, and offers sage nuggets of knowledge based on extensive professional experience. Tape the cards to your wall, stick them on your monitor, and get agile fast.
About the Author
Jeff Langr has been building software for over a quarter century. He is the author of Agile Java and Essential Java Style, plus more than 80 articles on software development and a couple chapters in Uncle Bob’s Clean Code. He runs Langr Software Solutions (http://langrsoft.com) from Colorado Springs and happily builds software as an employee of GeoLearning.
Tim Ottinger has over 30 years of software development experience including time as an agile coach, OO trainer, contractor, in-house developer, and even a little team leadership and management. He is also a contributing author to Clean Code. He writes code. He likes it.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This deck of cards has most of what you really need to get started using Agile software development. The basics are on the front of each card, and the details are in the fine print on the back. Despite the industry that has grown up around agile methods, the concepts are straightforward. The main problem is that some of the existing culture has to be unlearned for the methods to work. You don't have to be a guru or have a certification to use agile methods effectively. Those things mainly help you with the first step: getting permission to try. To start to implement your agile process, read one of the slim volumes by Ken Schwaber or Mike Cohn. That will put you ahead of most. Then find a way of explaining the concepts to your agile team. These cards can help you create a cheap and fun way to achieve that. You'll probably find that you leave the cards behind very quickly. Like any entry-level tool, that will show that they worked.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Super resource for teams of all skill levels
7 Feb 2011
Format:Paperback
I've worked on agile teams for more than ten years. I'm amazed at the quality and quantity of information in this concise little deck of cards. You really could learn how to implement agile principles and values from these cards. My current team has been doing Scrum, XP and Lean practices since 2003, so I thought there wouldn't be anything new for us in these cards, but I was wrong. There are nuggets of information to drive new discussion and improvement, such as the Toyota Production System Principles.
The first day we had the cards, one of our programmers refactored some code to reflect a change in business terminology and got rid of the old code. Lesser programmers might have just hacked in the terminology change, but he did it the right way - harder in the short term, but keeping our technical debt low for the long term. Our ScrumMaster pulled out card #6, Courage, which includes "To always deliver quality work" and "To throw away unneeded code and tests". It was nice affirmation that we did the right thing.
We put cards that interest us up on the task board to think about, and we plan to read and discuss a card at each team retrospective. They're a great learning tool for everyone from agile newbies to high-functioning, experienced teams.
The first day we had the cards, one of our programmers refactored some code to reflect a change in business terminology and got rid of the old code. Lesser programmers might have just hacked in the terminology change, but he did it the right way - harder in the short term, but keeping our technical debt low for the long term. Our ScrumMaster pulled out card #6, Courage, which includes "To always deliver quality work" and "To throw away unneeded code and tests". It was nice affirmation that we did the right thing.
We put cards that interest us up on the task board to think about, and we plan to read and discuss a card at each team retrospective. They're a great learning tool for everyone from agile newbies to high-functioning, experienced teams.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Excellent tool for any Agile team
6 Feb 2011
Format:Paperback
I love this format. A set of 50 cards covering nearly every aspect of Agile Software Development, one focused topic per card. The diversity of the topics included in the deck make it relevant to pretty much anyone from the CEO to the engineering team. I like being able to discuss an idea with someone and have a physical card that I have annotated during the conversation to leave as a reminder. It really helps drive the information home. I would be interested in seeing the authors put together a similar deck around development topics like TDD/Refactoring patterns for when I teach courses around development practices. If they had one, I'd certainly be a customer of that as well.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
There's more in here than you might think.
10 Mar 2011
Format:Paperback
When Jeff and Tim first asked my opinion on turning their Agile in a Flash blog posts into physical cards for sale, I was pretty lukewarm. What was the value in cards with short pithy lists about various aspects about Agile? Some of these lists were not even new, but things in common use on the email discussion groups. I regretfully told them I didn't think there was much market for them.
But I continued to read their blog--not regularly, but dipping in and out either on a whim or triggered by some comment made on the discussion groups. And I found myself shifting focus from the pithy lists that are now on the front of the cards, to the thoughtful and nuanced interpretation that is now condensed to fit the back of the cards. I found descriptions that were some of the best treatments of the /heart/ of Agile (rather than just the theory or mechanism) that I have ever heard. And I found insights that were valuable to me, an experienced Agile coach, yet still accessible to those new to Agile.
Jeff and Tim bring an uncommon clarity of expression to this work. They demonstrate an uncommon simultaneous depth and breadth of understanding. I have often, since they first asked, wished their cards were available so I could hand one to a client.
And now I can.
But I continued to read their blog--not regularly, but dipping in and out either on a whim or triggered by some comment made on the discussion groups. And I found myself shifting focus from the pithy lists that are now on the front of the cards, to the thoughtful and nuanced interpretation that is now condensed to fit the back of the cards. I found descriptions that were some of the best treatments of the /heart/ of Agile (rather than just the theory or mechanism) that I have ever heard. And I found insights that were valuable to me, an experienced Agile coach, yet still accessible to those new to Agile.
Jeff and Tim bring an uncommon clarity of expression to this work. They demonstrate an uncommon simultaneous depth and breadth of understanding. I have often, since they first asked, wished their cards were available so I could hand one to a client.
And now I can.
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