Practices

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen, Foreword by Ken Schwaber

See how to mine the experience of your software development team continually throughout the life of the project. The tools and recipes in this book will help you uncover and solve hidden (and not-so-hidden) problems with your technology, your methodology, and those difficult “people issues” on your team.

Manage It!: Your Guide to Modern Pragmatic Project Management

by Johanna Rothman

This book is a reality-based guide for modern projects. You’ll learn how to recognize your project’s potholes and ruts, and determine the best way to fix problems—without causing more problems. NEW: Watch an in-depth interview with author Johanna Rothman And congratulations to Johanna for winning a 2008 Jolt Productivity Award.

Practices of an Agile Developer

by Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt

Want to be a better developer? This book collects the personal habits, ideas, and approaches of successful agile software developers and presents them in a series of short, easy-to-digest tips.

You’ll learn how to improve your software development process, see what real agile practices feel like, avoid the common temptations that kill projects, and keep agile practices in balance.

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your "Wetware"

by Andy Hunt

Software development happens in your head. Not in an editor, IDE, or design tool. You’re well educated on how to work with software and hardware, but what about wetware—our own brains? Learning new skills and new technology is critical to your career, and it’s all in your head.

In this book by Andy Hunt, you’ll learn how our brains are wired, and how to take advantage of your brain’s architecture. You’ll learn new tricks and tips to learn more, faster, and retain more of what you learn.

You need a pragmatic approach to thinking and learning. You need to Refactor Your Wetware.

Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software

by Michael T. Nygard

“Feature complete” is not the same as “production ready.” Whether it’s in Java, .NET, or Ruby on Rails, getting your application ready to ship is only half the battle. Did you design your system to survive a sudden rush of visitors from Digg or Slashdot? Or an influx of real world customers from 100 different countries? Are you ready for a world filled with flakey networks, tangled databases, and impatient users? If you’re a developer and don’t want to be on call at 3AM for the rest of your life, this book will help you.

Ship it!: A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects

by Jared Richardson, Will Gwaltney, Jr

Many software projects run into trouble, and many never ship at all. Others run like well-oiled machines. This book shows you the basics of how to get your project well on the road to success.

Ship It! bucks current fashion trends and marketing hype; instead, you’ll find page after page of solid advice, all tried and tested in the real world: a collection of tips that show you what tools a successful team has to use, and how to use them well. You’ll get quick, easy-to-follow advice on modern techniques and when they should be applied.

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

Straight from the programming trenches, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process—what do you do, and an individual and as a team, if you want to create software that’s easy to work with and good for your users.

This is the title that got us started in the book business. It’s published by Addison-Wesley, but we’re offering for sale here simply because people come looking for it.

Enjoy!

Dave & Andy