Learning Agile goes to press!

After over three years of research, writing, and review, our new book, Learning Agile, is finished! Jenny and I are really excited about it, and we think it’s our best work yet.

We write this book because we really want you to learn agile! Agile has revolutionized the way teams approach software development, but with dozens of agile methodologies to choose from, the decision to “go agile” can be tricky. This practical book helps you sort it out, first by grounding you in agile’s underlying principles, then by describing four specific—and well-used—agile methods: Scrum, extreme programming (XP), Lean, and Kanban. Each method focuses on a different area of development, but they all aim to change your team’s mindset—from individuals who simply follow a plan to a cohesive group that makes decisions together. Whether you’re considering agile for the first time, or trying it again, you’ll learn how to choose a method that best fits your team and your company.

Here’s what you’ll learn in Learning Agile:

  • Understand the purpose behind agile’s core values and principles
  • Learn Scrum’s emphasis on project management, self-organization, and collective commitment
  • Focus on software design and architecture with XP practices such as test-first and pair programming
  • Use Lean thinking to empower your team, eliminate waste, and deliver software fast
  • Learn how Kanban’s practices help you deliver great software by managing flow
  • Adopt agile practices and principles with an agile coach

We’ve already gotten some great praise. Here’s what other people have to say about it:

Another amazing book by the team of Andrew and Jennifer. Their writing style is engaging, their mastery of all things agile is paramount, and their content is not only comprehensive, it’s wonderfully actionable.
—Grady Booch – IBM Fellow

What Andrew and Jenny have done is create an approachable, relatable, understandable compendium of what agile is. You don’t have to decide in advance what your agile approach is. You can read about all of them, and then decide. On your way, you can learn the system of agile and how it works.
—Johanna Rothman – Author and Consultant, www.jrothman.com

An excellent guide for any team member looking to deepen their understanding of agile. Stellman and Greene cover agile values and practices with an extremely clear and engaging writing style. The humor, examples, and clever metaphors offer a refreshing delivery. But where the book really shines is how it pinpoints frequent problems with agile teams, and offers practical advice on how to move forward to achieve deeper results.
—Matthew Dundas – CTO, Katori

Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene have done an impressive job putting together a comprehensive, practical resource that is easily accessible for anyone who is trying to ‘get’ Agile. They cover a lot of ground in Learning Agile, and have taken great care to go beyond simply detailing the behaviors most should expect of Agile teams. In exploring different elements of Agile, the authors present not just the standard practices and desired results, but also common misconceptions, and the positive and negative results they may bring. The authors also explore how specific practices and behaviors might impact individuals in different roles. This book is a great resource for new and experienced Agile practitioners alike.
—Dave Prior PMP CST PMI-ACP – Agile Consultant and Trainer

Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene have been there, seen that, bought the T-Shirt, and now written the book! This is a truly fantastic introduction to the major Agile methodologies for software professionals of all levels and disciplines. It will help you understand the common pitfalls faced by development teams, and learn how to avoid them.
—Adam Reeve – Engineer and team lead at a major social networking site

The biggest obstacle to overcome in building a high-performance agile team is not learning how, but learning why. Helping teams discover the why is the key to unlock their potential for greater commitment and more creative collaboration. With a focus on values and principles Andrew and Jennifer have provided an outstanding tool to help you and your team discover the why. I can’t wait to share it.
—Todd Webb – Technical Product Leader at a global e-commerce company

You can read the first chapter for free in the Free Sampler PDF.

Learning Agile is available directly from O’Reilly, where you can buy the paper copy, a DRM-free eBook, or a great deal where you can get both for a discount. It’s also available at Amazon.com and all major retailers.

Announcing Head First C#, 3rd edition

It’s a pleasure (and relief!) to announce that after almost two years of work, the third edition of Head First C# is in print and available in bookstores. Head First C# is one of the most effective books on the market for learning programming with C#. Many thousands of readers, some new to programming and others with experience with other languages, have used the first and second editions. And now here’s the third edition, hot off the presses:

A new copy of Head First C#, 3rd edition, fresh from the printer
A new copy of Head First C#, 3rd edition, fresh from the printer

This was a major update of the book. The biggest challenge was finding an effective way to teach XAML. XAML is a fantastic tool for building robust user interfaces, but a lot of developers find that it has a pretty steep learning curve. The Head First C# approach has been to use Visual Studio as a learning, teaching, and exploration tool, and the improvements that the Microsoft IDE team made to the visual designer made it especially effective for teaching XAML. We decided to have the book dive straight into XAML design and exploration, and have the reader build a video game right in the first chapter:

Save the Humans screenshot 600x410
Save the Humans is the first project in Head First C#

The trick to really getting over that XAML learning curve turned out to be going back to WinForms development for a few chapters. WinForms is an older technology, but it’s much simpler to understand. This let us lay down a solid foundation of C#, .NET, and object oriented design concepts, which makes XAML a lot easier to learn. It also gives the reader the opportunity to build projects to solve the same problem in both WinForms and Windows Store (or WPF) using XAML. Seeing the same thing done in more than one way is one of the most effective methods for learning programming, and we’re able to take advantage of that many times throughout the book.

I hope you’re as excited about this as we are! If you’re looking to learn C#, whether you’re new to programming or experienced with another language, you should definitely have a look at Head First C#.

We’ve worked with O’Reilly to make the first three chapters available for free as a PDF.

Download the first three chapters of Head First C# for free here.

 

Announcing Head First C#, 2nd edition

Head First C#, 2nd Edition

Jenny and I are really proud to announce that the second edition of our bestselling C# learning book, Head First C#, went to press! We worked really hard on it, and we’re very happy with how it came out.

Are you looking for the easiest way to become a great C# programmer? If want to get productive fast with C#, .NET and Visual Studio 2010, then this is the book you’re looking for. We show you how to learn C# by building over 100 different projects—including lots of games!—and solving dozens of puzzles.

Head First C# is a complete learning experience for programming with C#, the .NET Framework, and the Visual Studio IDE. Built for your brain, this book covers C# and .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010, and teaches everything from inheritance to serialization.

But don’t take our word for it! Download the free Head First C# eBook [PDF], which includes the first three chapters, complete. Or have a look at this typing game project [PDF] from chapter 4 to get a preview of the kinds of projects you’ll build throughout the book.

So check out Head First C# today, and see what the buzz is all about! Available now from O’Reilly, and wherever fine books are sold.