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Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game, 2nd Edition -- Chapter 3, Communicating, Cooperating Teams


Alistair Cockburn
02.12.2008
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As a registered member of SearchSoftwareQuality.com, you're entitled to a complimentary copy of Chapter 3 of Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game, 2nd Edition written by Alistair Cockburn and published by Addison Wesley Professional. "Communicating, Cooperating Teams" addresses issues that need to be considered when adapting an agile methodology to an organization. Cockburn emphasizes the flow of information in a project and how it is affected by seating arrangements and methods of communication. Each project has "information radiators" in the forms of team members, whiteboards, sticky notes and more. The chapter is punctuated by useful anecdotes from industry veterans.



Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game, 2nd Edition

Book description:

The agile model of software development has taken the world by storm. Now, in Agile Software Development, Second Edition, one of agile's leading pioneers updates his Jolt Productivity award-winning book to reflect all that's been learned about agile development since its original introduction.

Alistair Cockburn begins by updating his powerful model of software development as a "cooperative game of invention and communication." Among the new ideas he introduces: harnessing competition without damaging collaboration; learning lessons from lean manufacturing; and balancing strategies for communication. Cockburn also explains how the cooperative game is played in business and on engineering projects, not just software development.

Next, he systematically illuminates the agile model, shows how it has evolved, and answers the questions developers and project managers ask most often, including:

  • Where does agile development fit in our organization?
  • How do we blend agile ideas with other ideas?
  • How do we extend agile ideas more broadly?


  • Cockburn takes on crucial misconceptions that cause agile projects to fail. For example, you'll learn why encoding project management strategies into fixed processes can lead to ineffective strategy decisions and costly mistakes. You'll also find a thoughtful discussion of the controversial relationship between agile methods and user experience design.

    Cockburn turns to the practical challenges of constructing agile methodologies for your own teams. You'll learn how to tune and continuously reinvent your methodologies, and how to manage incomplete communication. This edition contains important new contributions on these and other topics:

  • Agile and CMMI
  • Introducing agile from the top down
  • Revisiting "custom contracts"
  • Creating change with "stickers"


  • In addition, Cockburn updates his discussion of the Crystal methodologies, which utilize his "cooperative game" as their central metaphor.

    If you're new to agile development, this book will help you succeed the first time out. If you've used agile methods before, Cockburn's techniques will make you even more effective.

    >> Read Chapter 3: Communicating, Cooperating Teams.

    >> Buy the book




    This chapter is excerpted from the book, Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game, 2nd Edition, authored by Alistair Cockburn, published by Addison-Wesley Professional, October, 2006, Copyright Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 0321482751. For more information please visit: www.awprofessional.com

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