""The authors expose the bureaucracy and stagnation that mark discipline without agility, and liken agility without discipline to unbridled and fruitless enthusiasm. Using a day in the life of two development teams and ground-breaking case studies, they illustrate the differences and similarities between agile and plan-driven methods, and show that the best development strategies have ways to combine both attributes. Their analysis is both objective and grounded, leading finally to clear and practical guidance for all software professionals - showing how to locate the sweet spot on the agility - discipline continuum for any given project.""--BOOK JACKET.

Foreword /Grady Booch -- Foreword / Alistair Cockburn -- Foreword / Arthur Pyster -- Ch. 1. Discipline, Agility, and Perplexity -- Ch. 2. Contrasts and Home Grounds -- Ch. 3. A Day in the Life -- Ch. 4. Expanding the Home Grounds: Two Case Studies -- Ch. 5. Using Risk to Balance Agility and Discipline -- Ch. 6. Conclusions -- App. A. Comparing the Methods -- App. B. Manifesto for Agile Software Development -- App. C. Capability Maturity Models -- App. D. Tools for Balancing -- App. E. Empirical Information.