Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Practitioner's Guide to Agile Software Delivery in the Enterprise

For years, critics have been highlighting the biggest weakness of Scrum and other agile methods -- their "lightweight" approach to methodology and governance will not be accepted in most large corporations, especially those with strict regulatory-driven (and similar) governance frameworks. Some agile practitioners take a naive approach and say "we don't need managers, financial forecasting, architecture review boards, and other unnecessary restrictions because we are being agile." While this sounds great in theory, it doesn't work in the real world.

Ambler and Lines, in this new book, close the gap found by the critics and present a practical structured approach to agile projects that gives the predictability and control required by governance frameworks, while still allowing the team to be responsive to change within the framework. It is a reasonable balance between the two competing priorities.

I found the book to be easy to read, well-structured, methodical, and enlightening. With the authors' experiences running or coaching agile teams in large corporate environments around the world, the book addresses the most common barriers experienced by teams trying agile for the first time in a large organization. All-in-all, it was a VERY GOOD investment of my time and money.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to everyone -- whether new to agile, or an experienced practitioner -- who wants to know how to make agile work in complex organizations.