Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding book!
Review: "Agile and Iterative Development" is a 'must read' for anyone involved in leading, managing, or doing software development. I have been using iterative methodologies for many years. Despite this, not only did I learn many things I did not know about the process, but it also gave me very useful information and statistics on the benefits of using it that I found useful when defending the approach against more traditional waterfall methodologies. Most interesting is discussions on practical applications when dealing with customers/clients that expect waterfall - a problem I have been dealing with for a long time. I bought several copies to distribute to my staff and I even refer to it in my resume where I discuss my ideal development approach.
This book was read and re-read with enthusiasm - it sits deservedly on my classics shelf next to Brook's Mythical Man Month. Get it!
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Summary: Not only to learn, also to enjoy
Review: After all that has been written before I just wanted to point out that this book is very easy to read and enjoyable. I couln't stop reading it. It's a pity not all technical books are written like this one. From now on a must-read for my students. I hope it is soon translated to spanish (and most of all, that the translation preserves its style).
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Summary: THE book to give your manager (or receive if new to Agile)
Review: An easy book to read on the plane. If it doesn't change your life, it might at least change your office.
Well written Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide is an outstanding overview of what Iterative an Agile development is all about. My copy has become so dog eared and sticky noted from use, that it looks as though I constantly turn to it (I do), drag it with me everywhere (I do), and have owned it for years (nope only months). This was the first book I used in my quest to reform our government office and it has been invaluable.
If you seek information to sell Agile within your company then the Evidence chapter (Chapter 6) alone is worth the price of the book. The Evidence chapter is a real find of hard facts and research materials.
Excellent quick discussions of four Iterative and Agile development processes (Scrum, XP, UP and Evo) and how they work. Comparing and contrasting these four differing approaches adds insight and value, as does seeing how these four can and cannot be used together.
Because Craig Larman's book is such a good overview, this book is an excellent starting point for both managers and developers. Developers will definitely need to read other books if they don't currently work on Agile projects, but Craig's book is a great place to start.
Managers will appreciate the concise writing, organized layout and readability of the work.
Managers and developers will both benefit from the Story of an Agile Development project in Chapter 4, which provides an experiential understanding (as much as a book can) of what being on an Agile project is like.
Great book. I can't recommend it enough.
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Summary: Comprehensive and Insightful
Review: As with other material that Larman has written, this book is comprehensive and insightful. He compares and contrasts a wide variety of agile development methodologies in a manner that enables a manager to make informed decisions.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant effort
Review: Craig Larman has covered the breadth and depth of agile methods. The hint's and tips are invaluable. A Great book.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, well-written and valuable
Review: Craig's book begins with an excellent presentation of the fundamental concepts behind agile development and follows with a strong "Evidence" chapter.Next is the clear, easy-to-read comparison between the leading agile methodologies (XP, Scrum and UP) and Evo that illustrates their commonalities and differences. The 'icing on the cake' is the "Practice Tips" chapter that contains many practical insights that I learned the hard way. I think it will be especially useful for project managers new to agile. As a manager with over 3 years experience managing XP projects, my opinion is that this book is a must-have for any manager interested in agile and iterative development.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, well-written and valuable
Review: Craig's book begins with an excellent presentation of the fundamental concepts behind agile development and follows with a strong "Evidence" chapter. Next is the clear, easy-to-read comparison between the leading agile methodologies (XP, Scrum and UP) and Evo that illustrates their commonalities and differences. The 'icing on the cake' is the "Practice Tips" chapter that contains many practical insights that I learned the hard way. I think it will be especially useful for project managers new to agile. As a manager with over 3 years experience managing XP projects, my opinion is that this book is a must-have for any manager interested in agile and iterative development.
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Summary: I wish I had had this book ten years ago
Review: During the spring semester 2004, I am teaching a course in software engineering. As a major class project, we are developing an application that will scan C/C++ code looking for potential security problems. In my opinion, there is only one way that a class of this type can develop a project of any significance. That is using an agile/iterative development model, where there is a little design, a little coding, a little testing and then go back to design. When I taught software engineering last spring, we used the same model, but were not as agile. Our iterations were longer and we pushed some of the more difficult tasks to the end. As the students noted, "we coded carefully at the start, but then just wanted to get it done at the end."
While this scenario might seem to be a problem, I found it gratifying, because it is just like the real world. The authors of this book are also firmly set in the world of software development. While reading it, I was constantly saying to myself, "It is about time." The reason for this singular conversation was that they completely disrespect the waterfall model of software development. In retrospect the use of the waterfall model is similar to the strict use of the word engineering in software development. Namely, the beliefs that the practice of building software development is just like building a bridge or a building. By thinking that all of the parameters can first be determined and then you build the software, an enormous amount of time, effort and expense had been wasted. Software development is a very dynamic process, one where circumstances are in a constant state of oscillation that gets damped down to a limit point as the project nears completion.
The waterfall model is one that is implicitly taught in school as well, but the only way we get away with it is because most of the programs that students write are small, well within the bounds of having hard parameters. Therefore, it is possible to completely design the program before coding it. In my experience with students fresh out of college, the two concepts they have the most difficulty with in their first job is the constantly changing requirements and the fact that they will know only a small part of the complete application they are building. And so, all educators must place more emphasis on dealing with changing requirements, and this book is an excellent place to start.
Fortunately, the movement towards object-oriented programming and encapsulation has made the change to iterative development easier. A programmer no longer has to be as concerned about possible data and method interactions/conflicts as they had to be when everything was visible to all.
I was sold on the iterative method of software development over a decade ago, when I started a job as a software developer. We were building a new product and received changing requirements on a weekly and sometimes almost daily basis. Quite frankly, we had no choice but to adopt an agile development style. I wish I had had this book with me at that time, it would have saved us a lot of stumbling around as we tried to deal with everything.
Rating: 
Summary: That's a keeper
Review: I just completed the reading of 'Agile & Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide' by Craig Larman (ISBN 0-13-111155-8). For once 'manager's guide' did not equate with 'for dummies'. This book is a solid review and comparaison of four main Agile methodologies, namely Scrum, XP, UP, and Evo. It also contains some very valuable practice tips and a generous FAQ section. It is an excellent start for anyone wanting to learn about Agile.
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Summary: Finally. Evidence.
Review: I was expecting a lot from this book, having read and enjoyed Larman's prior work. On the other hand, I expected it to be somewhat simplistic as the title implied the target group being managers, which I am not. One of these expectations was correct. Larman's latest presents a wonderful introduction into what iterative and evolutionary development is about. The word "agile" in the title seems a bit displaced as the text mostly discusses about "iterative" and "evolutionary" rather than "agile", but that really is no big deal because what's inside the covers is pure gold for any one. After a thorough introduction to the theory, Larman drops a bomb on the table; the chapter titled "Evidence" is worth the salt alone. Larman has collected an impressive list of references to early, large projects employing iterative and evolutionary development. He also reminds us how the creators of predictive planning based methods have themselves preferred an iterative approach from day one. The book also packs nice descriptions of four iterative and evolutionary processes, namely XP, Scrum, UP, and Evo. The descriptions are clear but, to some degree, repetitive. Although the chapter on evidence is definitely the gold chip, the last 70 pages proved to be a very pleasant surprise. Larman presents a list of practical tips and tricks for adopting and running iterative processes, as well as answers the toughest questions in a Q/A section. Highly recommended. Have your boss read it as well.
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