The Art of Agile Development

Who Should Read This Book

This book is for anyone who is, will be, or wants to be part of an agile team. That includes programmers, of course, but it also includes domain experts, testers, projects managers, architects, designers, and business analysts. Agile teams are cross-functional; this book reflects that fact.

If you’re a leader or you’re interested in bringing agile development to your team or organization, you should read the whole book from cover to cover. Part I introduces agile concepts and describes how to adopt XP. Part II describes each of XP’s practices in detail. Part III goes beyond XP, looking at the principles that allow you to create your own agile method by customizing XP to your particular situation.

If you just want to learn enough to do your job, you can focus primarily on Part II. Start with Chapter 3 in Part I to get an overview, then read through the practices in Part II that apply to your work. Each practice starts with a description of the audience it applies to, such as “Programmers,” “Customers,” or “Testers.”

If you’re merely curious about agile development, start by reading Part I. Again, Chapter 3 provides a good introduction. Afterwards, take a look at the practices in Part II. Start with the ones that look most interesting; you can read them in any order.