It’s surreal when you see your first official book review.
Your stomach is in knots.
What if they don’t like it?
You can’t hide it. It’s out there. For all the world to see.
Well it was with great relief (and trepidation) that I read the first official online review of The Agile Samurai on Dr. Dobbs today and was thrilled to see they liked it!
Mike Riley was generous in his praise of the book.
The clear themes that pervade throughout are the importance of personal and team alignment, effective organizational skills, active and persistent client engagement and having the fortitude to be an honest, trustworthy partner who will tell it like it is, even if it’s bad news.
I was also glad to see the theme of ‘you can’t take this stuff too seriously’ came through.
I know not everyone is going to like The Agile Samurai. But I sure am glad the someone did.
So thank you Dr. Dobbs and Mike Riley for making the first review a kind one.
Like Mike says:
Nothing is more hypocritical than a non-agile book on agile methodology. Gobs of tables, charts, lists and ROI analysis are preachy CYA consultant material, but hardly do much for people in the trenches trying to succeed at their jobs within the ever shrinking constraints they may be under. Fortunately for readers of The Agile Samurai, this is not one of those books.
Sep 21, 2010 @ 17:54:37
Your link is recursive. Here’s the Dr. Dobbs site:
http://www.drdobbs.com/blog/archives/2010/09/the_agile_samur.html
Sep 21, 2010 @ 18:15:02
Doh! Thanks Michael. Fixed now.
Sep 22, 2010 @ 16:47:58
Imagine my surprise when I came in to work this morning and found that a friend has placed a book on my desk combining two of my very favorite subjects — Iaido and agile development. It got my immediate attention and went right to the top of my reading queue.
I called to thank my friend, and he confessed that my frequently allegories to Musashi* when speaking to people about agile development convinced him this book would be an instant winner with me. He was correct.
Although I’ve only thumbed through the book in the last hour, I’m looking forward to reading it thoroughly, and will hopefully learn more techniques to apply in our agile environment…or in the dojo. 😎
Congrats on the good review from Dr. Dobbs.
(* Credit goes to Alistair Cockburn who spoke about Musashi in his book “Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game, Second Edition” — thanks, Alistair, for helping us to see what should have been so easy to see.)
Sep 22, 2010 @ 23:12:56
Thank you jbenslay. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Best of luck with your Iaido and Agile training.
See you in the dojo.
Oct 20, 2010 @ 05:05:15
Congratulations on the book! And on winning the 2011 TED Prize 😉
http://blog.ted.com/2010/10/19/announcing-the-2011-ted-prize-winner-jr/
Oct 21, 2010 @ 16:28:21
Thx Fabio. I am honored. Most people don’t know I do art on the side.
‘the other’ JR