My two favorite books about Agile
A brilliant software engineer recently asked me if she had to choose just one book to genuinely grasp the essence of the agile mindset, which would I recommend? Without hesitation, I mentioned two of my all-time favorites:
"Agile with Guts" by Nicolas Gouy
"XP Explained" by Kent Beck
Unlike some agile methodology concepts and books that tend to focus heavily on specific frameworks and processes, "XP Explained" beautifully captures the essence of agile thinking directly from one of its original masterminds. Every page is so insightful and elegant, even after multiple readings, it still excites me like a kid receiving her favorite candy. Here are a few gems from this masterpiece:
"Methodologies don't work like programs; people aren't computers. Every team does XP(Agile Way of Working) differently, with varying degrees of success."
"My terror of deadlines vanished when I learned this lesson. It is not my job to “manage” someone else's expectations. It is their job to manage their own expectations. It’s my job to do my best and to communicate clearly." (A big YES!)
"Ask the business guy to choose the smallest release that makes the most business sense."
(My personal favorite) "The difference between what I think is valuable and what is really valuable creates waste."
"There is no perfect process, no perfect design, and no perfect stories. Put improvement to work by not waiting for perfection. Find a starting place, get started, and improve from there."
I'll leave the rest for you to discover when you read it yourself. The first edition of this book was published in 1999, yet its foundational principles have proven timeless. It's both sad and exciting that the content never gets old. Sad because the software world unfortunately still pays more attention on processes and tools and expensive certificates over what actually matters: genuine mindset shifts. I truly believe if the wisdom from this book were consistently applied across software, IT, or any digital products, we would see fewer failed or delayed products and far much less frustrated employees and users.
My other recommended book is "Agile with Guts", published 2014. This book dives deeply into Value-Driven Delivery (VDD) and the “Jobs-to-be-Done” theory (even the writer does not mention JTBD directly in the book). If you appreciate practical checklists and actionable tools to embed VDD into your team's daily routines, this book is the one you would enjoy.
One of my favourite examples from this book:
"Here’s a typical conversation that happens when I start a workshop:
Me: What is the goal of the project?
Project manager: To do some reporting. (He is very proud of his answer.)
Me: What is the purpose of the reporting? (He looks at me suspiciously.)
PM: To show performance on a daily basis.
Me: Why is that important? (He starts getting angry or annoyed.)
PM: The customer wants it.
Me: Why? (I sense this might be my last possible question.)
PM: So he can reduce costs in his daily activities.
Me: Okay, now that's the goal…"
The conversation with my dear software engineer friend wasn't as detailed as this post. I simply offered her the book names along with a humble conclusion drawn from my years in the software industry:
While there are thousands of brilliant agile books out there, ultimately, the true north star is embracing the Agile Manifesto’s core: its four fundamental values and twelve principles. Methods, tools, techniques, and frameworks can only be useful once you clearly understand why you're building something, how you would know it is useful, and have the courage to start small, make mistakes, learn, embrace changes and iterate!
Agile With Guts By Nicolas Gouy
Extreme Programming Explained By Kent Beck
