Book Review: The Nature of Software Development

TL;DR: I loved the book. Go read it.

Over the past few years working with a team of XP devs who've been using the XP practices for well over a decade each has taught me a lot.
These amazing colleagues have helped me grow in just about every way. Including technically, which was a surprise to me. The technical growth wasn't direct from them teaching me new things; but from the challenges to my existing thinking. From their support of new ideas I have. From their challenges to new ideas I have.
MicroObjects wouldn't be anything near what it is without their challenges to the ideas backing it.

While they challenged me on my technical excellence they helped show me new ways to work on a product.

Ron Quartel and FAST Agile, Steve Kuo and Kata Nation have pushed my product development practices and shown me far more effective ways.
It's not just these individuals and practices; there's many more colleagues I wouldn't be here without; they just don't have linkable practices. :)

If I had to write a book to summarize what I've learned from the team around Agile Software Development Practices... It'd look nothing like Ron Jefferies' "The Nature of Software Development". My writing sucks - which ... you know... you're reading it. Right now. Literally at this very moment!

TNoSD isn't about the hands on keyboard practices, the technical practices of Agile. It's about how to navigate the things involved with creating a product around the technical practices. How to organize (self organization), how to plan (most value), how to estimate (#NoEstimate, or yesterday's weather) and what can make a team go fast.

This book is very inline with the types of practices and procedures to develop a product that I've been shown and have developed with the team I'm on.

If the team I'm on is anything like other XP teams - Mangement is scared of self organizing, empowered teams. Otherwise this is how all software would be developed.

The Nature of Software Development provides guidance on how to bring a team up to be able to deliever 'bug free' software continually.

Along with Beyond Legacy Code, I think this is one of my "Engineers gotta read" books. It's what I've found works amazingly well for the teams I'm on - Try these practices, see how they can be adjusted to work with your team(s) and start delivering value.

I've got a bucket of tweets (close to 100) out through April-August 2018 with notes I've made while reading this book. I think it's the most notes of any book I read. Averages close to a note per page.