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Comment by vivekjain10 | Hacker News Reader

Does going agile mean following processes/practices mentioned in a book/blog?

I thought it was about not following any set practices and about following the simple guidelines mentioned in the agile manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org/). No matter what process you follow to achieve it.

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Agile doesn't mean blindly feeling around until you figure it out for yourself. It means using the best practices you find or invent to achieve the manifesto. If this book has some good insights, it's a worthwhile read.

Does it, though? I dunno. I didn't read it. When I see a book with words like 'ninja' and 'samurai' and it doesn't involve martial arts, I generally just ignore it because it seems childish.

Agree! As per my experience it is good to understand the best practices but it's foolish to assume that they'll work for you just because they worked for someone else... As long as the team is willing to modify and evolve the process for good (as they gain experience)... it works well...

I was one of the early reviewers (which means getting to read a PDF for free, so take what I say with a grain of salt). The book didn't strike me as particularly prescriptive in the "you have to do this to be Agile-with-a-capital-A" sense. The whole samurai thing was kind of like a running gag to keep the tone light. I don't think I'd have noticed this book on the shelf ("Agile? Don't we already know what that's about?"), but having it dropped into my lap, so to speak... it was a fun read.

The book seems very readable. I read one of the sample chapters, and if you aren't an agile guy, or are "feeling around", this seems like a useful book. I'll probably get the digital version after reading a few more reviews.

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