Introduction to the Book

Implementing an Agile Software Process

There are lots of books about Software Engineering. There are also lots of books about using specific software development tools. Our book sets the tools provided by VSTS into the context of Extreme Programming and so explains how to put the theory into practice. It has dozens of exercises for you to follow and plenty of real-life advice.

Even if your team doesn’t plan to use VSTS, reading this book and following the exercises with the free trial version of the product will help you understand how Software Engineering practices and process can lead to better ways of developing software.

Finding the middle way

This book takes the middle ground of software development. Teams with too little process to guide them will find it helps them to make significant improvements in the outcome of their project, without creating the sort of bloated bureaucracy they fear. Teams with too much process will find it helps them to become more productive and responsive to their customers, but without descending into the sort of chaotic hacking they fear.