Reviews

Clean Agile: Back to Basics by Robert C. Martin

phanisaiuppu's review against another edition

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informative

4.0

brh301's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

Good overview book on agile. Covers the key principles. Not a user guide but more of context setting. Worth the 5 hours on audiobook. 

melicamp's review against another edition

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5.0

It's good to be reminded what was Agile (is it a noun now?) all about in the beginning, before it became distorted beyond all recognition by the industry. The book should probably be obligatory for everyone working in IT. Although, I don't agree with everything, especially with the critique of Agile Lifecycle Management (ALM) systems and I don't think that implementation of the presented practices is as easy as Uncle Bob says. If it would be that easy, there wouldn't be so much struggle, especially in big organizations.

What I did like is how savage Uncle Bob is about Agile certification programs. Some quotes:
"The Agile certifications that exists are complete joke and utter absurdity. (...)"
"(...) For example, the fact that someone is certified a Scrum Master is worthless certification".
Ouch.

aaronmunger's review against another edition

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5.0

I like Uncle Bob's writing, his humor seems to line up well with mine. It's nice to have a clear picture of what agile was meant to be and why, though he certainly favors the XP version.

nesaro's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

Easy to read, comprehensive, lean take on agile with some focus on XP and TDD. The only negative thing I have to say about the book is that there aren't many citations, although the introduction already addresses this.

michalioz's review against another edition

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2.0

Maybe an article would be more convenient way to share the content of this book but then again it depends on the audience. If you have <2 years of experience working in an Agile environment go on and read the whole thing, otherwise feel free to skim through it. I enjoyed the exposure of common misconceptions of Agile i.e. that you can't just apply the ceremonies without the technical processes (TDD, pair programming), and some insights around the actual roles of Product Owners and Scrum Masters.

vipinajayakumar's review against another edition

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5.0

This one was recommended to me by a teammate, and is only the second book by Uncle Bob that I have read (first one was Clean Code). I genuinely had chills as I started reading this and I ended up finishing it in just one day. You know that feeling when you want to tell someone how much you agree with everything they said? :P This book is a must read for any software developer.

Here is something that made me laugh: "Some folks think that Agile is about going fast. It’s not. It’s never been about going fast. Agile is about knowing, as early as possible, just how screwed we are."

starling8's review against another edition

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Very useful read if you work in IT and want to know the methodology behind team management.

intermittent_reader's review

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informative medium-paced

4.0

I'm a former product owner who's thinking about getting back into the game.  I was looking for a book that would help me ground myself in the world of Agile again.  This book fit the bill.  I enjoyed reading the thoughts of a pessimist who was part of the creation of Agile.  

fingolfintek's review against another edition

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3.0

A re-hashing of ideas and concepts presented in Clean Coders but re-framed to fit the Agile narrative. The advice is of course sound but often very repetitive and the anecdotes used to support said advice were more often than not hyperboled out of existence.

Still, I loved the history lessons and it's Uncle Bob so the read was enjoyable at least - it's something *insert meme*
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