When I first saw the book, I was honestly expecting it to be some kind of "how-to" guide for Microsoft's recent Visual Studio Team System product (MS VSTS). Lo and behold, it's really not about VSTS.  It is about what Guckenheimer calls applying the "value-up" paradigm and the kind of metrics to drive and sustain it (and how Team System just happens to be able to support it). It's not about the tool as much as it's about the mind-set and how the tool supports that mind-set. (How refreshing!)

I would consider this book to be about the "next generation" of agile development. It has some things in it that pioneering agilists might reject as not agile enough. It's realistic enough for the current times of scaling to larger enterprises and programs and architectures, while still able to meet the demands of CMMI {sidebar id=1} and the needs of regulatory compliance (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley). And, it does so by establishing the proper mind-set and an environment where the process and tools serve the practitioners instead of making them jump through hoops for the sake of process or metrics.

The back cover really does justice to what the book is all about: real software engineering to address the real-world problems that waterfall lifecycles aren't addressing and which agile methods have begun to address, but need some help integrating with and scaling upto the enterprise level.

This book discusses:

• The role of the value-up paradigm (versus work-down) in the software development lifecycle, and the meanings and importance of "flow."
• The use of MSF for Agile Software Development and MSF for CMMI Process Improvement.
• Work items for planning and managing backlog in VSTS.
• Multidimensional, daily metrics to maintain project flow and enable estimation.
• Creating requirements using personas and scenarios.
• Project management with iterations, trustworthy transparency and friction-free metrics.
• Architectural design using a value-up view, service oriented architecture, constraints and qualities of service.
• Development with unit tests, code coverage, profiling and build automation.
• Testing for customer value with scenarios, qualities of service, configurations, data, exploration and metrics.
• Effective bug reporting and bug assessment.
• Troubleshooting a project: recognizing and correcting common pitfalls and anti-patterns.

Of course it does all this using the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) and its much touted "MSF Agile" and "MSF CMMI." But at its core, it really and truly is a no-nonsense book about modern day scalable agility in an increasingly regulatory and SOA world with an honest look at itself and some thoughtful balancing between extremes.

I have been evangelizing agile for years in a very large corporation rooted in ISO9000, CMM/CMMI and Systems Engineering "V"-lifecycle model with a plan-based work-down mindset. I am completely sold on the notions of the value-up paradigm with trustworthy transparency and friction-free metrics. (I'm thinking of adopting them for one of my new mantras.)

The bottom line is that this book is not only worthwhile reading, but it is an eminently pragmatic and incisive book by someone who obviously "gets it" from the perspective of those of us trying to orchestrate agility across an elephantine enterprise. Two thumbs way up from me, for something I wasn't even expecting to be all that interested in from just seeing the title. What a pleasant surprise! (And from Microsoft no less )

Brad Appleton is an enterprise SCM/ALM solution architect for a Fortune 100 technology company. Currently he helps projects and teams adopt and apply agile development & SCM practices. Brad also author's the Agile CM Environments blog, and is co-author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration, the "Agile SCM" column in CMCrossroads.com's CM Journal, and is a former section editor for The C++ Report. Since 1987, Brad has extensive experience using, developing, and supporting SCM environments for teams of all shapes and sizes. He holds an M.S. in Software Engineering and a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics.

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