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Jim Highsmith
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Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems

by James A. Highsmith (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 9
See all formats and editions
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Offers an alternative to the belief that optimization is the only solution to increasingly complex problems, a series of frameworks to help an organization employ adaptive principles, establish collaboration, and provide a path for organizations needing to use an adaptive approach on larger projects. Softcover. DLC: Computer software--Development.
Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    0932633404
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0932633408
  3. Publisher
    Dorset House
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1999
  5. Part of series
    Dorset House eBooks
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7.5 x 1 x 12.75 inches
  8. Print length
    358 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highsmith's book has been highly praised in many circles and deservedly so." -- Dwayne Phillips

"I am sure the software soldiers and their commanders operating in turbulent times stand to gain from this book." -- Deependra Moitra, IEEE Software

"This is very likely the best book about software process that you will ever read. " -- Scott Ambler, Ambysoft

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dorset House (January 1, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 358 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0932633404
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0932633408
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 1 x 12.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 9

About the author

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Jim Highsmith

Jim Highsmith
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Jim Highsmith’s—well-known agilist, author, and storyteller— career spans six-decades of rapid technology and business change. Jim has been at the forefront of software technology’s response to that change, from working in the 1960s on Apollo, to 1970s COBOL business applications, to creating Adaptive Software Development, to recent engagements crafting modern digital businesses. With decades of business, management, and software development background, he is uniquely qualified to explore the history of software development so we can prepare for the evermore chaotic future.

Jim is the author of EDGE: value-driven digital transformation (Addison Wesley, 2020), Adaptive Leadership: Accelerating Enterprise Agility (Addison Wesley 2014); Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products (Addison Wesley 2009); Agile Software Development Ecosystems, (Addison Wesley 2002); Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems, (Dorset House 2000) winner of the prestigious Jolt Award; and winner of the 2005 international Stevens Award for outstanding contributions to software development.

Jim is a coauthor of the Agile Manifesto, a founding member of Agile Alliance, coauthor of the Declaration of Interdependence for project leaders, and cofounder and first president of the Agile Leadership Network. Jim has consulted with IT, product development organizations and software companies in the U.S., Europe, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, India, and New Zealand.

Website: jimhighsmith.com

Twitter: @jimhighsmith

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/jhighsmith/

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
9 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Maxim Masiutin
5.0 out of 5 stars Leadership and collaboration
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2003
Verified Purchase
"Adaptive Software Development" is a light, human-powered methodology for development of complex software systems. Unlike Extreme Programming, Adaptive Software Development is less disciplined and does not mandate individual techniques like On-Site Customer, Pair Programming or Automated Tests. It rather encourages adaptation, which depends on leadership and collaboration.
One of the vital components of Adaptive Software Development is clearly articulated Project Mission, Shared Vision and Clear Focus, and it is the responsibility of the whole team to create the mission and use it on a day-to-day basis as an alignment tool to keep the common direction.
I would also highly recommend "Agile Software Development" by Alistair Cockburn in addition to this book.
3 people found this helpful
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Derek R. Mahlitz
4.0 out of 5 stars Strikingly clear
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2001
This is a strikingly clear, concise book. It is written for software development team leaders and managers, but it's filled with enough common sense wisdom to appeal to anyone working in IT. The author is a Technology storyteller. I have enjoyed reading his book and have been able to apply his ideas within my own department.
5 people found this helpful
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Vince Kenyon
5.0 out of 5 stars MustRead
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2003
Compelling case for Adaptive Software Development (ASD), an approach enabling successful completion of complex software development projects. Draws on the theory of complex adaptive systems (CAS). Explains using judicious analogies with mountain climbing. Assembles ideas from the author's own extensive experience and readings. Describes in some detail the ideas of other authors that have influenced ASD. Excellent annotated bibliography allows the reader to pursue further study in any of a number of different directions.
It's hard to express just how good this book is. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you're interested in the currents of thought on software development variously labeled "extreme" or "agile," then I believe you will find Adaptive Software Development to be very near to their sources.
The author distinguishes a "complex" project from one that is merely "complicated." As one might well imagine, he would classify a project to develop the avionics software for the NASA space shuttle as complicated--but not complex: its goal is well defined and attainable by applying the stable laws of Newtonian physics. Development of an internet-based product for the consumer marketplace on the other hand is complex because one might expect almost anything to change during the course of such a project: target technology, competitive offerings, financing, marketing strategy, etc.
Complexity arises from moving fast in a continually changing environment.
Adaptive Software Development comprises
(1) Adaptive Conceptual Model--the theoretical foundation,
(2) Adaptive Development Model--a software development lifecycle for complex projects, and
(3) Adaptive Management Model--principles for managing complex projects.
(1) The Adaptive Conceptual Model proposes that a software development organization is a complex adaptive system like a marketplace or a flock of birds. According to the theory, CASs composed of independent agents acting for themselves without centralized control can under proper circumstances develop "emergent" capabilities exceeding the mere sum of the capabilities of the individual agents.
It is further proposed that only emergent capabilities are powerful enough to tame complexity. Software development organizations aspiring to do so must create the proper circumstances for the emergence of superior capabilities. The Development Model and the Management Model show the way.
(2) The Adaptive Development Model has three phases: Speculate, Collaborate, Learn. A typical project is expected to cycle through the phases several times. The output of each successive cycle converges on the final product of the project.
The beginning of each cycle is called "speculation" in preference to "planning" to reject the command-and-control philosophy that stifles emergence. ASD establishes a general direction, hypothesizes a product with a set of components, then puts the developers to work. Tasks are not specified in the ASD project plan--only the components to be completed by the end of the cycle.
Collaboration is the phase where development occurs. Under conditions of "diversity, rich relationships, unfettered information flow, and good leadership (p. 45)" collaboration can be the crucible of emergent capability. To foster this emergence, the project leader must keep the team "poised at the edge of chaos," imposing just enough rigor on the collaboration to keep it from spinning out of control. To impose any more rigor would stifle emergence. Borrowing from Ralph Stacey, Mr. Highsmith cites five dimensions for measuring how closely a project team approaches chaos. The goal is to structure collaboration so that it has just enough--but never too much--of each of the following:
1. Information Flow
2. Diversity
3. Rich Connectivity
4. Contained Anxiety
5. Power Differential.
Mr. Highsmith observes that adaptation, not optimization, is the key to success in a complex ecosystem. Software developers adapt by learning. ASD ends every cycle with specific collaborative learning activities including customer focus groups, technical reviews, post-mortems, etc. The adaptations resulting from the learning phase keep the output of subsequent cycles converging on a successful product.
(3) ASD gives to the project leader responsibility for establishing the conditions under which superior capabilities emerge from the collaboration of team members. This responsibility entails "the ability to help teams to understand the project's mission, to stand back and let the group struggle with mistakes, to encourage learning, to balance the need for flexibility and rigor, and to force decisions onto the group (pp. 209-210)."
To balance successfully between flexibility and rigor--poised at the edge of chaos--managers of complex projects must attend primarily to two structural elements: workstate and network.
ASD manages workSTATE in preference to workFLOW. Instead of monitoring the completion of tasks, the project leader tracks the completion of components. Tasks are not necessarily prescribed. Team members decide for themselves how to build the components. To scale up to large projects, workstate management defines explicit milestones for each component describing its degree of completion. Progress is tracked against these milestones.
The emergence of superior capability through collaboration depends on the communication network of the collaborators. For smaller, collocated teams with sufficient interpersonal skills, it will emerge informally. For larger teams, ASD prescribes a conscious effort to build it and to maintain it. The remote nodes of a virtual team are all too likely to fall into a state of insufficient interaction.
The collaboration network should provide team members just a little more information than they need, stopping just short of overload. Information clutter must be avoided. Content must not be provided without context (author, revision date, approval status, for example). The formal properties of the collaboration network must be identified and tuned to the needs of the complex project. A "collaboration service layer" of tools (mostly web-based) and practices must be installed. A new role, collaboration facilitator, extending the role of JAD facilitator, should be created to tend the collaboration network.
Is a software development organization really a complex adaptive system? No matter. Mr. Highsmith has ably used the theory of complex adaptive systems as a powerful metaphor for unifying many existing ideas about managing complex software development and for generating new ones--with at least as much validity as older theories have been applied in the past. Stimulating and refreshing. A must-read by any standard.
6 people found this helpful
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Elaine May
5.0 out of 5 stars Sensible software process
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2000
I have worked at a Fortune 100 company for > 15 years as a software engineer, software manager, and consultant on improving software projects. During that time, I've read many texts on software engineering and software management. This book, more than any other I've read, best captures my philosophy of software management, except for the rants against software process and the SEI which I think are a little much at times. Really, what the author advocates (at least in my reading of this book) is a sensible balance -- not too much process nor too little. This book, along with Rapid Development, are my two favorite "handbooks" for software managers. If you're looking for a quick recipe that doesn't require thought and is guaranteed to be successful, you won't find it here. However, I'd argue that you won't find it anywhere. What you will find is a guide to developing your own "common sense" on software management.
52 people found this helpful
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talkaboutquality
3.0 out of 5 stars Keeping cool in the demanding e-development world
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2006
If you're about to start a new software development project, it's worth reading this book first. It will help you make some sense of today's demands on you that software development should be fast and iterative while meeting ever-changing requirements. James Highsmith offers and explains concepts like "adaptive" and "emergent" and explains what to do with them in real life.

It's not a complete how-to book, though. While it has a lot of detail, be prepared to read it and discuss with your co-workers to figure out what part of the ideas you may be able to apply on your upcoming project.
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