Head First Agile: Tools and Processes

[Divya Shiv]

Hi,

Is the Agile concepts in the book is explained  based on the standard tools and processes or all other tools(Kanban/ Zenhub etc) and processes are covered ?

[satya Priya Sundar]

I am not sure if tools are discussed in detail in the book.Give it a try

These are the popular tools right now
Atlassian JIRA
FogBugz
VersionOne



And some specific tools for kanban

- Agile Zen: http://www.agilezen.com/
- Lean Kit Kanban: http://leankit.com/
- Trello: http://trello.com
- Kanban Flow: https://kanbanflow.com/
- Kanbanize: http://kanbanize.com/

[Junilu Lacar]

Let's first make the distinction between tools vs. products.  I'd define tools as those things we refer to with terms like hammer, chisel, rake. A product would be something like Black & Decker QuickNailer or Tuffy Garden Sweeper, things associated with a brand.  

In the agile space, let's refer to things like burndown charts, user story cards, and agile lifecycle management systems (ALM) as tools.  When you say JIRA and FogBugz, those are products.

Given those definitions, I haven't seen any specific products mentioned in the book. That's a good thing. Anything other than a passing mention of specific products would make a book smell suspiciously like promotional material to me. It doesn't appear this book is anything like that at all. It uses generic terms when discussing tools and how they are used to facilitate processes and communication. Things like fishbone diagrams, burnup charts, and user story cards (3x5 index cards) are discussed.

[Divya Shiv]

satya Priya Sundar wrote:I am not sure if tools are discussed in detail in the book.Give it a try

These are the popular tools right now
Atlassian JIRA
FogBugz
VersionOne



And some specific tools for kanban

- Agile Zen: http://www.agilezen.com/
- Lean Kit Kanban: http://leankit.com/
- Trello: http://trello.com
- Kanban Flow: https://kanbanflow.com/
- Kanbanize: http://kanbanize.com/

Thank  you for the refernce.

[Divya Shiv]

Junilu Lacar wrote:Let's first make the distinction between tools vs. products.  I'd define tools as those things we refer to with terms like hammer, chisel, rake. A product would be something like Black & Decker QuickNailer or Tuffy Garden Sweeper, things associated with a brand.  

In the agile space, let's refer to things like burndown charts, user story cards, and agile lifecycle management systems (ALM) as tools.  When you say JIRA and FogBugz, those are products.

Given those definitions, I haven't seen any specific products mentioned in the book. That's a good thing. Anything other than a passing mention of specific products would make a book smell suspiciously like promotional material to me. It doesn't appear this book is anything like that at all. It uses generic terms when discussing tools and how they are used to facilitate processes and communication. Things like fishbone diagrams, burnup charts, and user story cards (3x5 index cards) are discussed.

Thanks Junilu for providing the information on the tools discussed.

[Andrew Stellman]

Divya Shiv wrote:Is the Agile concepts in the book is explained  based on the standard tools and processes or all other tools(Kanban/ Zenhub etc) and processes are covered ?

Head First Agile covers three specific frameworks/methods/methodologies: Scrum, XP, and Lean/Kanban. Along with Scrum, it covers many of the generally accepted Scrum practices (GASPs), including task boards, burndown charts, user stories, personas.

We did not cover any specific software tool. We did go into some detail about how version control systems work, but we didn't cover a specific tool like Git or Subversion.

[Divya Shiv]

Thanks Andrew for the brief reply.