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Rating: 
Summary: Knowledge you should have before starting a project
Review: Agility and discipline are not absolutes, but should be dosed out appropriately based on your project. The risk-management approach explained in this book is familiar to most business management folks, and provides a framework for making the right decision. This is a great way to cater a methodology to your project.There were some "day in the life of" sections in this book that felt like fake stories -- it was almost like reading a DeMarco novel. Entertaining, but not entirely convincing. Also, contrary to Lean approaches, this risk management framework doesn't seem to lend itself to self-tuning as the project moves along (unless I missed something). There's a lot to be said for measuring how effective you're being and reacting to changes in your environment and product. The idea of doing all of your risk assessment up-front and choosing your methodology for the life of the project sounds exactly like the kind of thing that any "Agilist" would claim is not going to work!
Rating:
Summary: Reality Check. Nothing new but worth of saying out loud.
Review: Balancing Agility and Discipline focuses on saying out loud what people in the trenches have been thinking all along. There's still no silver bullet -- we need a well balanced tool bag instead of a multipurpose hi-tech hammer. The authors start the journey by describing the fundamental differences between traditional, plan-driven approaches and the latest agile methods. This is a great introduction and paves the way for the discussion to follow. However, occasionally the text uses the term "agile process" too loosely when really talking about the extreme characteristics of XP. Next, Boehm and Turner set out to describe a typical day in the life of two teams; one agile and the other not so. However, these stories didn't quite reach the level of detail I was expecting. The authors continue by presenting two case studies of projects where a plan-driven method was streamlined using agile techniques and an agile method was scaled up with some plan-driven elements. The subject is of great interest and the authors' approach is definitely valid. A decision tool for customizing an appropriate mix of agile and plan-driven ingredients is explained. The tool itself is largely based on Boehm's earlier work and focuses on risk management. The authors illustrate the mechanics of the tool by presenting a family of applications of varying levels of stability and complexity. The rationale behind the thought process for composing the optimal method is valid and built on well-known truths. The last third of the book is populated by numerous appendices. The first appendix introduces some popular agile and plan-driven processes and maturity models in the form of two-page summaries and comparison tables. The summaries serve as useful reminders but nothing more. The rest of the appendices, however, provide a short but valuable collection of tools for balancing the software development process and some empirical data on the costs and benefits of agility. In summary, I would classify Balancing Agility and Discipline as a suggested reading for both agilists and sceptics. It's not necessarily a classic but it certainly serves as a useful reminder of things the industry has learnt the hard way and shouldn't be taken too lightly. Agile methods promote retrospectives. Boehm and Turner suggest extending that retrospective a bit farther.
Rating: 
Summary: Pragmatic look at plan driven vs agile methods
Review: Excellent book that discusses plan driven vs agile development methods.
The authors conclude 1. No silver bullet.
2. One approach is better than the other depending on the project characteristics.
3. Future trends are toward both agility and discipline.
4. Some balanced methods are emerging.
5. It is better to build your method up than to tailor it down.
6. People, communication and expectations management are more important than methodologies. Probably the best description I've read of what make a process agile -- iterative, incremental, self-organizing, and emergence. The authors also have excellent appendices which give informative thumb nail sketches on the different agile methods. Two other features of the book I really appreciated -- margin summaries and well documented endnotes. The plan driven discussion focuses on PSP. Here, I would have preferred more discussion on traditional project management.(eg. PMBOK, CPM scheduling). Overall, very informative.
Rating:
Summary: Pragmatic look at plan driven vs agile methods
Review: Excellent book that discusses plan driven vs agile development methods.
The authors conclude 1. No silver bullet.
2. One approach is better than the other depending on the project characteristics.
3. Future trends are toward both agility and discipline.
4. Some balanced methods are emerging.
5. It is better to build your method up than to tailor it down.
6. People, communication and expectations management are more important than methodologies. Probably the best description I've read of what make a process agile -- iterative, incremental, self-organizing, and emergence. The authors also have excellent appendices which give informative thumb nail sketches on the different agile methods. Two other features of the book I really appreciated -- margin summaries and well documented endnotes. The plan driven discussion focuses on PSP. Here, I would have preferred more discussion on traditional project management.(eg. PMBOK, CPM scheduling). Overall, very informative.
Rating: 
Summary: so?
Review: Having read this book cover to cover, it's the sort of thing written by someone who probably has thought a great deal about these issues, but not actually managed development teams in a while. All the other reviews aren't wrong, they just don't get at the fact that very little in this book can be put to actual use. It's too intellectual, too academic. Where it almost seems to offer something tangible, it in fact is only offering carefully thought out frameworks. Unfortunately, frameworks in todays world are relatively cheap and as plentiful as there are relatively intelligent minds. More useful for a practitioner would be a book offering checklists of specific actions. As far as why I have a right to say that? I manage several teams of developers, churning out real code daily. The author is an academic who hasn't managed major teams in awhile and it shows.
Rating:
Summary: At last: a balanced perspective
Review: If you're contemplating the agile approaches such as XP and scrum, then this is a well written and objective comparison of the "disciplined" and agile approaches. Apart from the title which suggests that agile workers aren't disciplined, it's invaluable.
Rating:
Summary: At last: a balanced perspective
Review: If you're contemplating the agile approaches such as XP and scrum, then this is a well written and objective comparison of the "disciplined" and agile approaches. Apart from the title which suggests that agile workers aren't disciplined, it's invaluable.
Rating:
Summary: More balanced than perplexed
Review: Sometimes we want to have things to be black and white, but working at extremes has shown to be the failure path.
That is why IT systems have buffers, project plans have slacks, and mathematical models are most precise when they are fuzzy.
That is why we are most happy with systems where form follows function and the interface follows the user. In the same way Barry displays ways to pick an appropriate method for each project making clear that there is no single solution, but that all models aim at advantages and disadvantages.
Ask a plummer:
- picking the right tool will help to finish the task in the quickest and most reliable manner.
Ask a Karateka or a boxer:
- if you are well-balanced you are unlikely to fall over and happy to sustain hits.
Barry makes sense of it all for IT projects, lists existing knowledge and in my view his book is building the foundation of acceptance for agile methodologies and combining them with proper methods for documentation and project management with a focus on preemptive risk management.
He favors to approach projects by looking at the risks and how to overcome them thus solving the biggest problem in IT projects: "taking a risk-driven approach is a pragmatic means of reconciling the strengths and weaknesses of disciplined and agile methods." (Boehm, B. and Turner, R. (2004), p. xiv)
I was perplexed, by the clarity and and combinations of the principles listed in this book, which is indeed very well balanced and applicable.
Rating:
Summary: Useful, critical, and current information....
Review: This book addresses a critical and current discussion on how to balance agility and planned methods. Not only does it discuss project characteristics that identify the homeground of an individual project, but it also identifies agile practices that can be introduced into a traditional planned project, and discusses the use of planned techniques that may be needed to scale up large or critical agile projects. This is very useful material - and most certainly addresses current industry needs. As an Asst. Professor of Software Engineering I have recently noticed a trend amongst the organizations in which my graduate students work. Several of these organizations that have historically employed traditional "waterfall" style lifecycle models are now experimenting with pilot projects that employ agile methods. They are not however deploying cookie cutter agile methods, but are selecting those agile practices that meet their own needs. My students explained that early prototype projects had indicated that applying agile processes resulted in better defect removal early in the projects. Boehm and Turner's book addresses exactly these issues, and shows that agile and planned methods can be applied synergistically. Equally importantly the book reports on the small yet growing body of empirical results that support certain agile claims and challenge others. This provides the reader with critical information for determining which agile practices they may wish to deploy. This book clearly reflects the years of experience both authors have had in industry and academia. As the creator of the spiral lifecycle model and the well known cost estimation model COCOMO, Boehm has a track record of correctly measuring the pulse of the industry and providing insights that have had a lasting impact. Once again, Boehm has written a book that I believe has identified a critical market trend and can provide invaluable insights for organizations seeking to find just the right balance within their own software development projects.
Rating:
Summary: Useful, critical, and current information....
Review: This book addresses a critical and current discussion on how to balance agility and planned methods. Not only does it discuss project characteristics that identify the homeground of an individual project, but it also identifies agile practices that can be introduced into a traditional planned project, and discusses the use of planned techniques that may be needed to scale up large or critical agile projects. This is very useful material - and most certainly addresses current industry needs. As an Asst. Professor of Software Engineering I have recently noticed a trend amongst the organizations in which my graduate students work. Several of these organizations that have historically employed traditional "waterfall" style lifecycle models are now experimenting with pilot projects that employ agile methods. They are not however deploying cookie cutter agile methods, but are selecting those agile practices that meet their own needs. My students explained that early prototype projects had indicated that applying agile processes resulted in better defect removal early in the projects. Boehm and Turner's book addresses exactly these issues, and shows that agile and planned methods can be applied synergistically. Equally importantly the book reports on the small yet growing body of empirical results that support certain agile claims and challenge others. This provides the reader with critical information for determining which agile practices they may wish to deploy. This book clearly reflects the years of experience both authors have had in industry and academia. As the creator of the spiral lifecycle model and the well known cost estimation model COCOMO, Boehm has a track record of correctly measuring the pulse of the industry and providing insights that have had a lasting impact. Once again, Boehm has written a book that I believe has identified a critical market trend and can provide invaluable insights for organizations seeking to find just the right balance within their own software development projects.
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