Introduction to Agile Methods

Extensively tested in both academic and corporate settings, this is the ideal instructional resource for everyone new to agile development: students, software practitioners, and managers. Drawing on extensive experience helping software teams deploy and succeed with agile, Sondra Ashmore and Kristin Runyan bring together all the concepts, vocabulary, techniques, and implications of the agile paradigm. Packed with examples, case studies, and use cases, Introduction to Agile covers all this, and more:

• The history, cause, and value of the shift to agile development
• How agile and waterfall methods compare -- and a clear assessment of the tradeoffs
• How agile, iterative development projects really work
• Key roles on agile projects
• Agile approaches to requirements, planning, tracking, reporting, testing, quality, and integration
• Key agile methods: Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), Crystal, Feature Driven Development (FDD), Lean, and Dynamic Sysems Development Method (DSDM)
• Implications for IT -- and the rest of the organization

Sondra Ashmore, Ph.D., is an IT leader who specializes in large Fortune 500 corporations. Her areas of expertise include product management, project management, and new product development for IT offerings. She received her graduate education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in technical communication and management, and at Iowa State in human computer interaction. Her research focuses on the software development process, both Waterfall and Agile, and explores strategies to optimize the user experience. In 2012, she was recognized as a "Forty under 40" business leader by the Business Record, and won the Iowa Technology Association's Women of Innovation award for business innovation and leadership for her work at IBM. Sondra is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Management Institute Agile Certified Professional (PMI-ACP), and Stanford Certified Project Manager (SCPM).

Kristin Runyan is a product delivery expert, specializing in product management, Agile coaching and training, and leadership. Kristin is certified as a Scrum Master (CSM), Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Pragmatic Marketing Product Manager, and a Project Management Professional (PMP). She was a 2011 winner of the Women of Innovation award from the Iowa Technology Association. Kristin got her undergraduate degree at Texas Christian University and her MBA at Saint Louis University. She lives in Des Moines, Iowa, and is an avid blogger at www.runyanconsulting.com; her twitter handle is @KristinRunyan.