Rating: 
Summary: Deja Vu all over again
Review: Didnt I just read all of this in some of the other books in the series?Extreme Programming Installed is the best of the lot. The others just repeat the same information in different ways. No need to read the others in the series. The initial book, ExtremeProgramming Explained is ok. It explains the philosophy. But XP Installed gives actual examples.
Rating: 
Summary: ...plans are useless, planning is indispensable
Review: From the Preface: "...planning is so valuable and important, that it deserves to go on a little every day, as long as development lasts. " For those of us who have read Kent Beck's Extreme Programming Explained, you realize that this means planning is as important as the other things that Xp does every day: analysis, design, testing, implementation, deployment, and maintenance. Martin Fowler and Kent Beck show us how Xp helps us with planning every day, and how the individual practices of Xp let us know where we actually are. This book should be considered required reading for any manager with, or thinking of starting, an Xp project.
Rating:
Summary: RIPOFF. AVOID. Rehash of other books.
Review: I found this book to be a quick and easy read, even for a project planning book. While I was already familiar with the concepts of XP Planning from reading various articles, it was good to get the authors' complete message from start to finish. While the XP process sounds great, and I would love to try it, I do not think it is realistic for most projects. For one, it requires the dream client, who is knowledgeable of the problem domain, patient, decisive, documentation-averse, and trusting. A second precondition is a project of small to moderate size and complexity. (The authors speculate on how the process may be extended to teams greater than 10 in size.) The third precondition is that the team should be staffed with the most motivated, creative, team-oriented, and skilled developers. (At least that is what I deduce from what the developers must do.) With all these preconditions satisfied, then of course a stripped down process will work!! Unfortunately, most of us live in a different world. That said, I did find the book worth a couple of hours, as it reinforces some concepts, provides a few new ideas, and gives you a complete overview of this latest fad.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for every project
Review: I found this book to be a quick and easy read, even for a project planning book. While I was already familiar with the concepts of XP Planning from reading various articles, it was good to get the authors' complete message from start to finish. While the XP process sounds great, and I would love to try it, I do not think it is realistic for most projects. For one, it requires the dream client, who is knowledgeable of the problem domain, patient, decisive, documentation-averse, and trusting. A second precondition is a project of small to moderate size and complexity. (The authors speculate on how the process may be extended to teams greater than 10 in size.) The third precondition is that the team should be staffed with the most motivated, creative, team-oriented, and skilled developers. (At least that is what I deduce from what the developers must do.) With all these preconditions satisfied, then of course a stripped down process will work!! Unfortunately, most of us live in a different world. That said, I did find the book worth a couple of hours, as it reinforces some concepts, provides a few new ideas, and gives you a complete overview of this latest fad.
Rating:
Summary: Explanation: GoF book
Review: I think that the Gof book referred to in another review is probably the classic volume 'Design Patterns' written by the Gang of Four, Gamma, Helm, Johnson & Vlissides (395 pages)
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing wrong with it
Review: If you are a clever developer, and if you take yourself and software development very seriously, then this is not the book for you. This book is for everyone who figured out that project planning in a software project is a nightmare. Let these authors talk some common sense in you. Let's do it the way we understand things work. Let's get real. Get this book in startup phases of XP projects, when you need to figure out what to do in what order. Get this book if you want to be entertained. Don't get this book if you are in love with MSProject.
Rating:
Summary: XP Series
Review: If you are looking at, implementing or using XP, the three books from the XP Series are a must have on your desk!
Rating:
Summary: Very Similar to Extreme Programming Explained
Review: If youve real Extreme Programming explained then this book offers very little additional information. Most of the books in this series are very similar to each other. If you've read one, you've gained most of the knowledge of the others. They could easily be condensed into one 350 page book, and that would be worth [money]. Save your money, read XP Explained or XP Installed, skip this one. Its only of interest to those who have never read any books in the series. Even then you're better off reading Extreme Programming Explained.
Rating:
Summary: crackles with ideas and fleshes out more of XP
Review: Kent Beck and Martin Fowler have to be something of a "dream team" for a computer book. Not only was this book informative and interesting, but I actually enjoyed reading it. The book crackles with ideas and sparkles with a subtle wit. The content of the book covers all aspects of planning, managing and tracking progress on an XP (Extreme Programming) project and is a worthy companion to Kent Beck's anthemic XP Explained. Hard stuff missed out from the earlier work such as how to estimate how long things will take, how to write user stories and how to organize the details of iterations and releases is explained in a straightforward way. It also introduces a few new key XP concepts, showing that this radical methodology didn't spring fully formed into the mind of Beck, but is still evolving. One such key is "Yesterdays Weather", the idea that you can't go far wrong by using past performance as an initial guess for future results. If you are at all intrigued by the new "agile" methodologies, read XP Explained and then this one. Then buy a few more copies for your management.
Rating:
Summary: crackles with ideas and fleshes out more of XP
Review: Kent Beck and Martin Fowler have to be something of a "dream team" for a computer book. Not only was this book informative and interesting, but I actually enjoyed reading it. The book crackles with ideas and sparkles with a subtle wit. The content of the book covers all aspects of planning, managing and tracking progress on an XP (Extreme Programming) project and is a worthy companion to Kent Beck's anthemic XP Explained. Hard stuff missed out from the earlier work such as how to estimate how long things will take, how to write user stories and how to organize the details of iterations and releases is explained in a straightforward way. It also introduces a few new key XP concepts, showing that this radical methodology didn't spring fully formed into the mind of Beck, but is still evolving. One such key is "Yesterdays Weather", the idea that you can't go far wrong by using past performance as an initial guess for future results. If you are at all intrigued by the new "agile" methodologies, read XP Explained and then this one. Then buy a few more copies for your management.
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