Book Reviews
Managing Agile Projects by Sanjiv Augustine
This is a well-written, thoughtful book deserves to be read in a wider community than just that of software development. It can be used as a handy reference for managers dealing with real-world project issues and a reference for those who seek the theoretical underpinnings of modern project management thinking. Read full review
Extreme Programming Explained: Embracing Change by Kent Beck
The book that kick-started the Agile software development movement in 1999 by describing the author’s techniques which he collectively called Extreme Programming (XP). Now into its second edition, it is recommended to all software development practitioners – you may not agree with all of the material but it will be thought-provoking reading.
The New Lean Toolbox by John Bicheno
Lean is a management methodology that seeks to maximise customer value by giving the customer the product or service they want in the most efficient (least wasteful) manner. The key in the title is “toolbox”; this book is not a primer but a summary of the latest thinking in the Lean methodology. Read full review
Balancing Agility and Discipline by Barry Boehm and Richard Turner
This excellent book convincingly argues that most real-world software-development projects will incorporate elements of both approaches. The authors correctly identify that a risk-based process is the best way to formulate a method for delivering a software-development project.
Good to Great by Jim Collins
This book is a result of five years’ research into how ‘good’ company transforms itself to a ‘great’ one. Collins describes the qualities of the leaders of these companies, what visions they had and what methods they used. Read full review
Assumption-based Planning by James A. Dewar
Assumption-based Planning (ABP) is the standard work in how to reduce the effect of unintended consequences when planning. Although the technique has its roots in high-level strategic activities such as military planning, it is also directly applicable to systems development activities. There are also interesting links between the techniques in ABP and between scenario-based software development. Read full review
The Software Requirements Memory Jogger by Ellen Gottesdiener
This book, although small in size, is large in scope; namely, to provide a comprehensive reference for requirements activities in all sizes of software development projects. This sounds a tall order but the reader is in safe hands as the author succeeds handsomely. Read full review
Business Process Change by Paul Harmon
There are many books describing business strategy, and many describing the design and development of IT systems. There are very few that link the two activities together - this book is the best that I have read to do so. It can be regarded as an update to Rummler and Brache’s book “Improving Performance”. Read full review
Business Process Management by John Jeston and Johan Nelis
This book takes a holistic, organisational approach to BPM; automation via IT projects is rightly treated as one of only several possible mechanisms for change. The key point made is that the organisation’s business processes have to be improved prior to automation, otherwise all that automation will do is magnify the inefficiencies within the processes. Read full review
Agile Development by Craig Larman
Although this book is described as "A Manager’s Guide", it is an excellent introduction for business leaders that have had problems with traditional software development processes, that have heard of Agile processes as a possible solution, and would like to find out more. It is also an excellent reference for those who have practised Agile processes and would either like to improve their knowledge or would like to find solid evidence-based support to influence others. Read full review
Mastering Your Organisation's Processes
by John O'Connell, Jon Pyke and Roger Whitehead
This book is sub-titled “A Plain Guide to Business Process Management” and is aimed at senior non-technical managers within an organisation who are planning to introduce a system to automate and manage their business processes. Read full review.
Freedom from Command and Control by John Seddon
This book has the subtitle “A better way to make the work work”. It describes an way of improving performance of service-based organisations. Seddon’s approach is based on the work performed by Taiichi Ohno at Toyota in the 1950s. Seddon proposes that his methodology would help improve the performance of some the UK's poorly-performing public-sector organisations.
Troubled IT Projects by John M. Smith
This book aims to show how “troubled” projects can be turned-around and more importantly, prevented in the first place. Smith’s first task is to define what he means by a “troubled” project - namely one that has one or more of the following characteristics...
Discipline of the Market Makers by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema
This often-quoted book is devoted to investigating the characteristics of corporate market-leaders and what tactics are required for those aspiring to become market-leaders. The authors argue that in order to succeed in their market-space, companies have to choose to excel at one of three disciplines: operational excellence, customer intimacy or product leadership.
Lean Thinking by James Womak and Daniel Jones
This thought-provoking book builds on Womak and Jones’s previous ideas on the supply-chain improvement, and applies them to the issue of improving consumer service-provision. Its non-technical style will suit a wide readership, from small business owners to senior executives in large organisations, who seek to improve the service they give to their consumers. It will also prove useful for practitioners who seek to understand the latest thinking from two of the recognised leaders in the field.