Agile has become today's dominant software development paradigm, but Agile methods remain difficult to measure and improve. Essential Skills for the Agile Developer fills this gap from the bottom up, teaching proven techniques for assessing and optimizing both individual and team agile practices. Written by four principals of Net Objectives, this book reflects their unsurpassed experience helping organizations transition to Agile. It focuses on the actions and insights that can deliver the greatest design and programming improvements with the least investment. Through real-world examples, the authors address principles, attitudes, habits, technical practices, and design considerations, and show how to bring all these together to deliver higher-value software. Using these techniques, managers and teams can optimize the whole organization and the whole product across its entire lifecycle.