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Title: Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed by Barry W. Boehm, Richard Turner, Barry Boehm ISBN: 0-321-18612-5 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Useful, critical, and current information....
Comment: This book addresses a critical and current discussion on how to balance agility and planned methods. Not only does it discuss project characteristics that identify the homeground of an individual project, but it also identifies agile practices that can be introduced into a traditional planned project, and discusses the use of planned techniques that may be needed to scale up large or critical agile projects. This is very useful material - and most certainly addresses current industry needs.
As an Asst. Professor of Software Engineering I have recently noticed a trend amongst the organizations in which my graduate students work. Several of these organizations that have historically employed traditional "waterfall" style lifecycle models are now experimenting with pilot projects that employ agile methods. They are not however deploying cookie cutter agile methods, but are selecting those agile practices that meet their own needs. My students explained that early prototype projects had indicated that applying agile processes resulted in better defect removal early in the projects.
Boehm and Turner's book addresses exactly these issues, and shows that agile and planned methods can be applied synergistically. Equally importantly the book reports on the small yet growing body of empirical results that support certain agile claims and challenge others. This provides the reader with critical information for determining which agile practices they may wish to deploy.
This book clearly reflects the years of experience both authors have had in industry and academia. As the creator of the spiral lifecycle model and the well known cost estimation model COCOMO, Boehm has a track record of correctly measuring the pulse of the industry and providing insights that have had a lasting impact. Once again, Boehm has written a book that I believe has identified a critical market trend and can provide invaluable insights for organizations seeking to find just the right balance within their own software development projects.
Rating: 2
Summary: so?
Comment: Having read this book cover to cover, it's the sort of thing written by someone who probably has thought a great deal about these issues, but not actually managed development teams in a while. All the other reviews aren't wrong, they just don't get at the fact that very little in this book can be put to actual use. It's too intellectual, too academic. Where it almost seems to offer something tangible, it in fact is only offering carefully thought out frameworks. Unfortunately, frameworks in todays world are relatively cheap and as plentiful as there are relatively intelligent minds. More useful for a practitioner would be a book offering checklists of specific actions. As far as why I have a right to say that? I manage several teams of developers, churning out real code daily. The author is an academic who hasn't managed major teams in awhile and it shows.
Rating: 4
Summary: Knowledge you should have before starting a project
Comment: Agility and discipline are not absolutes, but should be dosed out appropriately based on your project. The risk-management approach explained in this book is familiar to most business management folks, and provides a framework for making the right decision. This is a great way to cater a methodology to your project.
There were some "day in the life of" sections in this book that felt like fake stories -- it was almost like reading a DeMarco novel. Entertaining, but not entirely convincing. Also, contrary to Lean approaches, this risk management framework doesn't seem to lend itself to self-tuning as the project moves along (unless I missed something). There's a lot to be said for measuring how effective you're being and reacting to changes in your environment and product. The idea of doing all of your risk assessment up-front and choosing your methodology for the life of the project sounds exactly like the kind of thing that any "Agilist" would claim is not going to work!
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Title: Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide by Craig Larman ISBN: 0131111558 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
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Title: Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers by Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck ISBN: 0321150783 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 08 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects by Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister ISBN: 0932633609 Publisher: Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Extreme Programming Refactored: The Case Against XP by Matt Stephens, Doug Rosenberg ISBN: 1590590961 Publisher: Apress Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software by Eric Evans, Martin Fowler ISBN: 0321125215 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 22 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.99 |
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