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Title: Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products (Agile Software Development Series) by Jim Highsmith ISBN: 0-321-21977-5 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.89 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: How to increase efficiency by improving communication
Comment: The agile philosophy of software development and management is the approach made by all busy, efficient people who do not have to conform to rigid rules, "Do the least possible that will satisfy the product constraints." Without question, it is much more efficient than the tentative, bureaucratic and inflexible manner in which so much development is done. Many of the computer students that I teach work at a very large company. On occasion, we engage in discussions about their work environments and the stories about their productivity are amazing. One student told me that the average number of lines of code produced by each programmer was on the order of several hundred a year. In some cases, they have to get managerial approval to make simple changes to the comments.
This is a fundamentally untenable situation in the fast-paced, dynamic world of software development. New hardware and customer demands for new ways to use it require that software developers react much faster than ever. The development of agile processes is a reaction to the sluggishness of constrained software development and it works quite well, although it removes much of the personal security that rigid rules provide.
The best advice in the book is found in a brief segment about communication. A group that is struggling is in a meeting, trying to determine what some of their problems are. A survey is taken and most people agree that the problem is not communication, as a large number of e-mails are passed around each day. Finally, one courageous person raises their hand and notes that while they are passing messages, they are generally not communicating. What they are doing can better be described as chatting. Even though important points are being raised in the messages, they are buried in the filler.
It is that point which I consider to be the most important in this book. Communication between humans is one thing that we all do both well and poorly, and this is true of every type of relationship. It is done well, because we are so good at sending messages, but at times so terribly poor, as we so often send conflicting or incorrect ones. This is also one area where we tend to fool ourselves into thinking we are much better than we really are. In general, the single most significant thing that any group can do to increase their efficiency is to improve communication and that is a point of continuous emphasis throughout the book. It is not always put in those terms, but that is what it really is.
For example, starting on page 66, there is the sequence of statements: "The capability of self-organizing teams lies in collaboration - the interaction and cooperation of two or more people to jointly produce a result . . . The quality of results from any collaborative effort is driven by trust and respect, free flow of information, debate and active participation - bound together by a participatory decision-making process." These statements are just another way to say effective communication.
Independent of whether you are willing to begin using agile methods in your development or not, you will find value in this book. Effective communication between all stakeholders in the project is the real key to increased efficiency, and this book is packed with sound advice on how to do that.
Rating: 5
Summary: If Only I Had This Book 9 Months Ago!
Comment: Jim Highsmith has done again. He has done an amazing job of combining his many years of experience with the Agile principles that he helped craft to develop a very effective project management approach. Better yet, his approach extends beyond software projects to encompass the management of projects of all types.
Jim's writing style is a pleasure to read. He speaks to the practitioner using easy to grasp examples and experiential stories that demonstrate his knowledge of real project issues. His APM framework is structured enough to provide guidance, yet flexible enough to adapt to any project.
One of my recent data warehousing projects suffered from some of the issues common to traditional project management methods like user expectations management, changing requirements, scope creep, etc. After reading this book I can clearly see how beneficial the APM approach would have been on this project. I will be revising all future approaches to incorporate APM.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Working Guide to Agile PM
Comment: Agile Project Management is the first book to successfully bring together the theory of complex adaptive systems and the practice of project management in a usable, "how-to" format. The book offers a range of concrete suggestions including (my favorite) how to develop a product vision statement by creating a prototype of the final package. It also offers clear and direct management techniques, including how to establish workable and effective interactions between the product team and the end customer. The "secret" is in keeping the focus of short iterations of deliverables that accommodate change without risking scope spinning out of control. Agile Project Management also helps the project manager with issues of scalability by offering specific suggestions on tailoring the APM approach and by devoting an entire chapter to managing the large team. If you're looking for practical suggestions to how to deliver the best product you can, given the normal constraints of time and budget, then APM is one book you absolutely want to have on your book shelf.
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Title: User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Addison-Wesley Signature Series) by Mike Cohn ISBN: 0321205685 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
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Title: Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed by Barry W. Boehm, Richard Turner, Barry Boehm ISBN: 0321186125 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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Title: Agile Project Management with Scrum (Microsoft Professional) by Ken Schwaber ISBN: 073561993X Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 10 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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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: Agile Project Management: How to Succeed in the Face of Changing Project Requirements by Gary Chin ISBN: 0814471765 Publisher: AMACOM Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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