It's no wonder "agile" software development methods are rapidly gaining popularity: they promise developers more respect and less bureaucracy, more speed and less aggravation, a greater likelihood of project success, and less chance of going stark raving bonkers along the way. But which agile methodology (if any) is right for your organization?

Jim Highsmith knows all seven leading approaches like the back of his hand. In Agile Software Development Ecosystems, he compares all seven, helping you customize the right approach to your unique requirements. Drawing upon interviews with the creators of each methodology, he illuminates Scrum, the Dynamic Systems Development Method, CrystalMethods, Feature-Driven Development, Lean Development, his own Adaptive Software Development (ASD), and the best-known of them all, Kent Beck's eXtreme Programming.

While there are significant differences among these methodologies, you shouldn't underestimate the challenge of implementing any of them in the traditional Dilbert-like software organization. For agility to work, you need more than a methodology, you need an "ecosystem" that supports it.

Highsmith says agile "ecosystems" need to encompass three elements: collaborative values and principles, a methodology that's as light as possible, and a "chaordic" perspective that respects the fact that real-world organizations exhibit both chaos and order and can't be managed solely through conventional project management and development life-cycle practices. Along the way, he uses multiple case studies to illuminate what it takes to make each agile methodology work — and to offer practical help for folks who want to nudge their organization toward agility in any form. (Bill Camarda)

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.