Review By: John Snuggs
02/12/2010This book is full of great information that reminds me of the things I appreciate most about being an agile teams coach. In my training, I was fortunate to have an experienced mentor as I began my role as an agile coach. Agile Coaching is like having Rachel and Liz right by your side offering an education and support just like a mentor would. The examples they provide throughout the book exemplifies their variety of experiences.

The book is written in a comfortable and approachable narrative style and mixes in references to many valuable Web sites with more information. The authors are clearly advocates for continuous learning. The references to blogs and Web sites show how they continue to build their own knowledge base. The information fits very well for those curious about introducing agile principles and practices. For readers who are already using agile, the book can serve as a salient reminder of the reason that we use the practices and what cost may be incurred for choosing to not implement practices.

The authors provided a thorough treatment of Test Driven Development and quality coding. They seem to have a strong technical background and an ability to teach teams how to work in pairs. I learned about coding dojos and many other things that I will apply to my team. Consistent with the structure throughout the book, the authors include a description of the practice, the benefits, and some hurdles that you are likely to encounter. This systematic approach helped me to be ready for obstacles. I've still had to work through the hurdles, but it’s good to know that they are coming.

I plan to keep this book on my bookshelf as a reference. I'll use it when I need to get re-grounded in agile principles and practices. I think it’s an ideal choice for someone starting to coach agile teams.