|
Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed
 |
Author: Barry Boehm, Richard Turner
List Price: $29.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0321186125
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co (15 August, 2003)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 19,838
Average Customer Rating: 4 out of 5
|
Customer ReviewsRating: 2 out of 5
so?
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 out of 5
Knowledge you should have before starting a project
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!
Rating: 5 out of 5
At last: a balanced perspective
If you're contemplating the agile approaches such as XP and scrum, then this is a well written and objective comparison of the "disciplined" and agile approaches. Apart from the title which suggests that agile workers aren't disciplined, it's invaluable.
Similar Products
· Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers
· Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide
· Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects
· Extreme Programming Refactored: The Case Against XP
· Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers
|
