Scott Davis (Musings on Java and Open Source) What's so funny about Java, OS X, Peace, Love, and Understanding?

Gosh no, not from me. You should know better than that. I'm talking about Ship It! A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects, by Jared Richardson and William Gwaltney, Jr. (Pragmatic Bookshelf).

I spend so much of my precious reading time these days buried in API books, wallowing in minutiae -- "Ship It!" is still a geek book, but it's a nice change of pace. It is strategic rather than tactical. It is a collection of best practices, refreshingly free of the "my Dad's development methodology can beat up your Dad's development methodology" noise that passes as intelligent discourse these days.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm still a big fan of Xtreme Programming. But any time someone asks me how to get started with it, I'm always at a bit of a loss. If you dive straight into any one of the books in the XP series, it comes off being more prescriptive than descriptive. For example, here's the very first line from the XP website:

Let's begin with a simple question: What is XP? As you will see, it is a deliberate and disciplined approach to software development.

Oof! True, but that quote doesn't come close to capturing the joy and fun of agile development. Even the Agile Manifesto reads more like the Declaration of Independence than say, a good solid What I've Learned column from Esquire magazine: little bit funny, a little bit profound. I now have a book that I'll be recommending to folks who want to dip their toe in the Agile waters without fear of getting reprimanded for doing it wrong.

I got the book a couple of weeks ago from Jared. He joined the NFJS tour this year, and we performed the time-honored tradition of the "Proud Papa/New Author Reciprocal Book Exchange". I hadn't had time to touch it until tonight, but once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. The authors recommend pausing after each tip (42 in all) and reflecting on how they apply to your current environment. I do as well, although I gulped down all 160 pages in one sitting. My only alibi is that most of these principles are the same ones I talk about in my XP for the Single Programmer: The Sound of One Hand Clapping presentation. It's all about a kinder, gentler XP -- similar (if not identical) in practice, but less strident agitprop.

At OpenLogic we're currently in the process of architecting our next release, and I've been using the planning sessions as a bully pulpit implementing more agile practices. "Ship It!" gave me plenty of quotes, anecdotes, and examples to sharpen my game. Nice work, guys.