Essence

The first course in software engineering is the most critical. Education must start from an understanding of the heart of software development, from familiar ground that is common to all software development endeavors. This book is an in-depth introduction to software engineering that uses a systematic, universal kernel to teach the essential elements of all software engineering methods.

Many of the creators of Essence are also members of Agnostic Agile. Thus the need for Essence and its structure, elements and properties is based on the same values/needs shared with the founders and other members of Agnostic Agile.

A series of examples and case studies on how people have used the Scrum Essentials cards to benefit their teams and improve how they work.

The way we have developed software over the years has followed a zig-zag path. Early on, we had no prescribed way of working, but we created code. In the 1970s, structured methods became popular, followed by object/component methods from the mid-1980s through 2000. These were technical practices. After that, we adopted Agile methods which focused on human practices or social engineering. Now we are in the Scaling Agile phase, which includes both human and technical practices.

An in-depth introduction to software engineering that uses a systematic, universal kernel called Essence to teach essential elements of all software engineering methods