Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products
by Jim Highsmith
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jim HighsmithEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-04-16
ISBN: 0321219775
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Book Reviews of Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products
Book Review: How to increase efficiency by improving communication
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products
Best practices for managing projects in agile environments?now updated with new techniques for larger projects
Today, the pace of project management moves faster. Project management needs to become more flexible and far more responsive to customers. Using Agile Project Management (APM), project managers can achieve all these goals without compromising value, quality, or business discipline. In Agile Project Management, Second Edition, renowned agile pioneer Jim Highsmith thoroughly updates his classic guide to APM, extending and refining it to support even the largest projects and organizations.
Writing for project leaders, managers, and executives at all levels, Highsmith integrates the best project management, product management, and software development practices into an overall framework designed to support unprecedented speed and mobility. The many topics added in this new edition include incorporating agile values, scaling agile projects, release planning, portfolio governance, and enhancing organizational agility. Project and business leaders will especially appreciate Highsmith?s new coverage of promoting agility through performance measurements based on value, quality, and constraints.
This edition?s coverage includes:
- Understanding the agile revolution?s impact on product development
- Recognizing when agile methods will work in project management, and when they won?t
- Setting realistic business objectives for Agile Project Management
- Promoting agile values and principles across the organization
- Utilizing a proven Agile Enterprise Framework that encompasses governance, project and iteration management, and technical practices
- Optimizing all five stages of the agile project: Envision, Speculate, Explore, Adapt, and Close
- Organizational and product-related processes for scaling agile to the largest projects and teams
- Agile project governance solutions for executives and management
- The ?Agile Triangle?: measuring performance in ways that encourage agility instead of discouraging it
- The changing role of the agile project leader
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