Crystal Clear : A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams (Agile Software Development Series)

Rating:
Summary: Best single book in the Agile canon
Review: Alistair has always been an interesting thinker, one worth reading for the clarity of his thought and the insights he brings from his very open minded observation and talking with development teams. With his new book, Crystal Clear, however, Alistair has become a really good writer. In fact, I would say he has written the single best book in the collection of writings on Agile methodologies.

If you want the most comprehensive overview of Agile, you still must read Highsmith's Agile Software Development Ecosystems. If you want the most poetic, read Kent's White Book. For amazingly clear and simple writing and thinking, Poppendieck. But if you want a really really useful book on how to actually do agile, and you don't have that much time to invest, get Alistair's book.

One of the things I really like is the variety of different writing styles from chapter to chapter: from the email "love letters" written to Crystal (Alistair's methodology muse), to the simple exposition of seven properties underlying agile, to the clearly illustrated strategies and techniques, to work product samples, and to the final one page chapter giving an expert (level 3) view of the whole methodology. His writing is constantly engaging, inventive, conversational and even fun.

While Alistair writes about one methodology (and only one of his Crystal family of methodologies), the book is still universal. It covers the basic things that few agile teams would disagree with. Even if you work in a large, complex environment, this is the place to start.

-May your travels be light and the green bar always on your forward horizon. --Michael

Rating:
Summary: Best since XP - maybe even better...
Review: Despite the fact that a very large number of books about agile methodologies have come out since the beginning af agile software development in 2001 - this Chrystal Clear is a major breakthrough:

In this book Cockburn takes the reader by the hand, shares his deep insight in people-centric software development and give precise instructions and advise on how to run sofware projects with communication and human values as the base. You learn a number of proporties, strategies and techniques. I find it hard to tell the difference between these. I think they are all best practices - but really usefull and very well proven best practices.

Unlike most other books on methodoligies Chrystal Clear explains itself in depth - and manages on the same time to communicate with the same "lightness" that should be performed in development projects. The lightness is especially present (and refreshing) in the section about the work products, which is the horror of all other methodologies I know... Cockburn learns us, that most work products makes the biggest difference in the project, if they are made on the walls on whiteboards or stickers - as opposed to the usual way where work products are made on computer screens and saved (or "hidden") on server disk drives...

Being a full blown methodology - with detailed instructions on how to run your project - I see Chrystal Clear as the first full blown leightweigh methodology since eXtreme Programming - and recommend the book highly to all project managers and everybody else who wants to succeed with their software development projects.

Ole Jepsen, Founder of the Danish Agile User Group

Rating:
Summary: Read it, no matter what methodology you're using
Review: It was through Alistair Cockburn's earlier writings that I 'got it' that good people, not methodologies and tools, deliver successful projects. Although Crystal Clear is meant only for small teams (there's a Crystal color for every size team), the properties, practices, principles, examples and techniques in this book would benefit any software development team.

The subtitle begins "A Human-Powered Methodology...", and that's the key to this book. Cockburn understands how to allow people to do their best work. The book is so well-organized and well-written, even readers new to agile development will have no trouble understanding how and why Crystal Clear works, and how to implement it.

I'm part of a Scrum/XP team, but I took away many helpful and practical ideas from this book. No matter what methodology you use - even if you work in a traditional waterfall environment - you will find much you can use here.


Rating:
Summary: Building Trust
Review: This book is so important to the discussion of Agile/Adaptive development processes that I have included it in my syllabus for Adaptive Project Management (MBA in Technology Management, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT).

Alistair Cockburn has presented 7 prinicples that assure software development is a human-based enterprise instead of a mechanical process. He doesn't say this explicitly, which is either to his credit, or for his next book: these principles all relate to the process of building trust and groups depend on this elusive element to challenge each other's work and to continually look for the creative and productive solution. The reader would be well advised to read both this book and either Cockburn's Writing Use Cases and/or Ellen Gottesdiener's book on Collaborative Requirements Gathering so that you can practice these principles in other realms of the development process.

For more information, contact David Spann [e-mail]