The Art of Agile Practice: A Composite Approach for Projects and Organizations

523 Pages·2012·10.32 MB·English

by  Bhuvan Unhelkar

Information Technology / Software Engineering & Systems Development U The Art of
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Bhuvan rightfully does not provide a silver bullet in this book because there are none. h
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Rather, he uses Agile together with proven business practices to provide a best of breed
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approach. … the book gives a balanced view of Agile in the practical world. Whether
a Agile Practice
you are a business analyst, developer, project manager, executive, or playing any other r
role within your organization, I am sure you will enjoy reading this book and find it
relevant to your work.
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—Steve Blais, PMP, Solutions Architect, Sarasota, Florida
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A Composite Approach for
The Art of Agile Practice: A Composite Approach for Projects and Organizations presents
a consistent, integrated, and strategic approach to achieving “Agility” in your business. e
Projects and Organizations
Transcending beyond Agile as a software development method, it covers the gamut of methods

in an organization—including business processes, governance standards, project management, A
quality management, and business analysis—to show you how to use this composite approach
to enhance your ability to adapt and respond to evolving business requirements. The book is r
divided into three parts: t

1. Introduces Agility and identifies the challenges facing organizations in terms of
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development and maintenance approaches
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2. Presents Composite Agile Method and Strategy (CAMS) as a carefully constructed

combination of process elements and illustrates its application to development, business
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management, business analysis, project management, and quality
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3. Includes two Agile case studies, a comprehensive index, definitions of key acronyms,
and appendices with a current list of Agile methods and interview summaries i
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The book describes relevant metrics for the entire CAMS lifecycle and explains how to embed
Agile practices within formal process-maps in projects. Filled with figures, case studies, and
P
tables that illustrate key concepts, the text is ideal for a two- or three-day training course or
workshop. It is also suitable for a 13-week education course for higher degree students that
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includes process discussions and consideration of Agile values at both software and business
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levels. The chapters are organized to correspond roughly to such lectures with an option to
choose from the case study chapters. c
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Bhuvan Unhelkar
K12339
ISBN: 978-1-4398-5118-0
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www.crcpress.com
9 781439 851180
www.auerbach-publications.com
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In Praise of The Art of Agile Practice
“The Art of Agile Practice gives you choices rather than a prescription: a view of the ecosys-
tem of agile processes and practices from which you can create your own agile approach …
Composite Agile Method and Strategy (CAMS) synergizes three important agile concepts:
Agility in projects; the balance of Agile principles and practices with the disciplines of a for-
mal process; and incorporation of Agile values in the entire organization.”
“Whether you are a business analyst, developer, project manager, executive, or playing
any other role within your organization, I am sure you will enjoy reading this book and find
it relevant to your work.”
—Steve Blais (PMP, Solutions Architect, Sarasota, Florida), from the Foreword
“As head of a team of business process management consultants, I see this book of immense
value in synergizing end-to-end processes that bring together a sensible combination of
Agility with formal planning in projects.”
—Murray Heke (New Zealand)
“Combining Agility with planning is the best way to proceed forward in the world of meth-
ods. This book outlines precisely that—a carefully thought practice of Agile.”
—Brendan Trewartha (Australia)
“Adopting Agile at an organisational and individual project level has been picking up pace
over the last decade. This book makes a significant contribution to the discussion on success-
fully adopting Agile principles in project delivery and business change.”
—Channa Achilingam (Australia)
“As a consultant I find the material in this book directly applicable in practice. A must have
on the practitioner’s desk.”
—Louis Taborda (Australia)
“Time to market with quality products that deliver outcomes is critical to our business.
With a combination of development in-house complimented with outsourced resources, a
CAMS based approach to an agile business with the more formal business management
alongside faster product development is a key part of our success.”
—Keith Sherringham (director of Valued Communities)
“I have been familiar with Dr. Unhelkar’s thinking over the last few years, and find his ideas
most relevant to any company interested in developing Agility as I define it: “a manage-
ment approach that facilitates the rapid creation of business value by embracing change and
learning from it”. Taking advantage of value-adding elements of both Agile practices and
traditional methods, Dr. Unhelkar proposes a superior model that transcends the software
development and project boundaries to produce substantial, positive impact on the overall
functioning of the organization.”
—Adriana Beal (Sr. IT Business Consultant, Austin, Texas)
“This work elevates Agile as a value system across an organization—way beyond the practice
of agile in software development projects. This is a business book as much as a software pro-
cess related work.”
—Norbert Raymond (Australia)
“We have run successful training courses in Agile project management based on the material
in this book. This book is an ideal accompaniment to a 3 to 5 day Agile training course.”
—Thomas Charles (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
“At last a book that recognises that Agile is as much a mindset as it is an approach to devel-
oping software. For decades, organisations have grappled with the need for agility to remain
competitive in global markets, only to be frustrated by long development cycles for vital IT
innovation, and too often, disappointing outcomes. Agile approaches to software development
were proposed to improve these outcomes. But interconnected fields such as business analysis
and project management have for too long looked to standardised, command-and- control
approaches and practices, derived from engineering perspectives of the world. In this book,
Dr. Unhelkar, through his Composite Agile Method and Strategy (CAMS), proposes a
composite method, and demonstrates how business analysis and project management can
benefit from adopting elements of agile thinking. Dr Unhelkar makes a convincing a rgument
as to why business analysis is required as an integral part of Agile projects.”
—Judy McKay (Head, Information Systems)
“Dr. Unhelkar’s global thought-leadership is amply visible in this book. CAMS is the way to
capitalize on the value of Agile without losing the benefits of planning. Excellent work and
worth having on every Agile (and Planned) desk.”
—Haydn Thomas (Australia, USA)
“This books provides invaluable support to project coaching – especially in the Agile context.”
—Karen Sleeman (Australia)
“The concepts of Composite Agile Method and Strategy (CAMS) have been in the making
for over past five years. I have followed the progress of this research and enjoyed applying it
in practice.”
—Dinesh Arunatileka (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
“Dr. Unhelkar’s latest book is an excellent blend of theory and practice. He brings together
the formality of planned SDLC with Agile practices, and combines Agile in projects with
Agile as an organizational value.”
—Houman Younessi (RPI, Hartford, Connecticut)
“CAMS is a very practical viewpoint on how to use Agile. On its own, Agile may only
remain at software development level. This book shows the path to its application across an
entire organization.”
—Karan Karandikar (Boston, Massachusetts)
“This book is written in an easy to read, lucid style. It is also organized neatly in chapters
with key points and discussion questions. This book makes it easier for a higher degree stu-
dent to learn the concepts of Agile quickly—and then start applying them in practice. An
excellent option as a text book for Agile related courses.”
—Vipul Kalamkar (MSU, India)
“The fundamentals of CAMS are based on more than three years of solid research combined
with practice. CAMS in application software development and business analysis brings
the benefit of Agile practices and techniques that improve process quality and increases
the opportunities to deliver a project in time, within budget, and produce a high quality
products. CAMS as demonstrated in this book, enables projects to capitalize on the advan-
tages of Agile together with the practicality of varied project types. The value of creating and
configuring an instance of CAMS and applying it in practice through the project develop-
ment life cycle is the key message of this book.”
—Mohammed Al-Maharmeh (Sydney, Australia)
“This book examines Agile concepts, which have proven so vital to the ability of s oftware
teams to create products that delight the customer, and extends them throughout the
business. Dr. Unhelkar delves into the need to tailor the Agile approach to a group’s unique
circumstances and requirements—resulting in what he calls CAMS—Composite Agile
Method & Strategy. The result is a book that will inform and inspire both teams and leaders
throughout the organization.”
—Karen Fine Coburn (Cutter Consortium)
“The research underpinning this work makes it all the more worthwhile in practice.
Employing action research methods to investigate how Agile is used in organizations has
resulted in this very practical material.”
—Yi-Chen Lan (Sydney, Australia)
“Process for the sake of process takes away productivity and does not achieve anything. This
is true of Agile processes as much as planned ones. Every step of the process should be justi-
fied from the value added by the process taking into account the friction added and facilita-
tion value of the process.”
“Bhuvan Unhelkar makes the practitioner think of methods to achieve the right balance
and k eep the delivery as the ultimate focus. If the project cannot survive the current or next
phase it does not matter if while the methodology is scientifically correct or not. CAMS
allows the p ractitioner to focus on the current phase of the project keeping an eye on the
trophy (i.e., the project deliverable).”
“Combining Agile methods and planned process in CAMS is a unique contribution
made by this book. The book uniquely extends the CAMS concept beyond software devel-
opment and project management to business strategy and development. A must read for
practitioners of Agile and business strategy.”
—Moti Bhatia (New Jersey)
“Dr. Unhelkar presented to our members on the values of Agile and business analysis. His
views on the importance of practicing Agility together with formal business analysis, as
expressed in this book, were extremely well received.”
—Clinton Towers (Chair of IT SIG,
The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia)
“Agile can be applied at individual, project and organizational level. This book brings
together the application of agile at these three levels together. A must have for practicing
Agile coaches and mentors.”
—Haydar Jawad (United Kingdom)

The Art of
Agile Practice
A Composite Approach for
Projects and Organizations
Advanced and Emerging
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Handbook of Emerging Communications Technologies: The Next Decade,
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Mobile Enterprise Transition and Management, Bhuvan Unhelkar
Multi-Domain Communication Management Systems, Alex Galis
Protocols for Secure Electronic Commerce, Second Edition,
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The Telecommunications Illustrated Dictionary, Second Edition,
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Web-Based Systems and Network Management, Kornel Terplan
The Art of
Agile Practice
A Composite Approach for
Projects and Organizations
Bhuvan Unhelkar
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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