Abraham Lincoln once asked something like, "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?" The answer is four. "Just because you call a tail a leg doesn't make it so." Just because you want to call some development practice "Agile" doesn't make it so. In this book, David Anderson makes a case for calling Theory of Constraints the underlying definition of Agile software development practices. The principle tie is that a key measure in the Theory of Constraints is called Throughput; the amount of value delivered to the customer. Agile methods pride themselves as delivering value to the customer quickly. Based on the Theory of Constraints definition, the Feature Driven Development (FDD) method, Anderson's personal expertise, turns out to be the most Agile of all.
In making the case for the Theory of Constraints based approach, Anderson has given us a lot of formulas and metrics for looking at software projects. This is the most thorough treatment of the subject I have seen yet. I wasn't fully satisfied with the metrics as I felt the book didn't deal with the biggest problem in metrics, the problem of characterizing the measure. To do good metrics, you have to be very clear on what you are measuring, the characterization problem. Without that, all the formulas, graphs, and trends are pretty much useless. Most of the book dealt with the problem by saying, "If you could measure `X', then..." I got really tired of all the Ifs in the book.
In fact, I am not sure I should like this book or not. I found myself half of the time saying to myself, "Hmm, that is a interesting idea," and the other half saying, "I don't think so." Perhaps it was all the Ifs, perhaps it was the repetition. I am glad to say at the end of the book Anderson does appear to have the intelligence to note that one size does not fit all and does a nice job of suggesting where the best choices in software development approaches might be.
So, who should read this book? Well, if you like Donald Reinertsen's and Eliyahu Goldratt's work and live in the software world, this book is for you. If you have to teach Agile seminars to software professionals (like me), then this should be on your reading list as well. If you are general software project manager or developer who is looking to improve the way you do software development, then I would probably pass on this book. Not that the ideas are all wrong but you probably will get lost along the way. If...
You don't need to own a Kindle device to enjoy Kindle books. Download one of our FREE Kindle apps to start reading Kindle books on all your devices.
-
Apple
-
Android
-
Windows Phone
-
Android
To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
![Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results by [David J. Anderson]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51HGbxinJSL._SX260_.jpg)
Follow the Authors
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Save on selected Bestselling Children's books.
Includes Bluey, Peter Rabbit, Spot, Peppa Pig, Roald Dahl and more. Click to explore.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Customer reviews
Review this product
Top reviews from other countries
Earl Beede
IF...
Reviewed in the United States on 27 September 2004Verified Purchase
DesertGamer
Simple and easy to apply
Reviewed in the United States on 22 June 2008Verified Purchase
CC
hard work, but worth it.
Reviewed in the United States on 15 October 2003Verified Purchase
P. Dave
Very Good Text for the Subject
Reviewed in the United States on 15 October 2008Verified Purchase
Sam
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on 3 March 2016Verified Purchase
