Customer Reviews

Managing Agile Projects

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I first bought this with some concern that it was another book just espousing the need to adopt agile project management/agile software development methods; however, I was delighted to see that the book included so much more. The first couple of chapters do explain the history of the evolution of the agile method, but do so in a way that focuses on the benefits to the business stakeholders for allowing technical teams to adopt these methods, such as the several different ways that agile methods reduce risk. The next section of the book talks about how managing agile projects is different from traditional projects, and gives specific examples of the differences and how to change your project management behavior to match the new environment. The third section of the book was amazing -- it detailed a number of agile management techniques that I could adopt today into my project, without the need for necessarily adopting a whole new methodology. The last section of the book talks about some of the "gotchas" that we have to watch out for when using these agile methods. One special nugget was the last chapter which gives instructions on how to adopt these techniques and practices into an organization or onto an existing project without attracting the notice of the "process police" in an organization. I like this concept of changing the way I work while flying under the radar. I HIGHLY recommend this book to project managers, business managers, and senior technical leads of teams who are using (or would like to use) agile software development methods.

Aguanno's book is an excellent overview of agile project management methodologies and practices. Aguanno assembles leading authorities in the field to contribute their experiences and knowledge directly from real experiences. The numerous management techniques discussed will help you use agile methods to increase the value and effectiveness of all your projects. Anyone wishing to learn more about agile, or project management in general, will benefit from this book.

This is the book I use the most when I need agile techniques for my projects. It contains all the info you need from a managers perspective; when you need a technique, and how to apply. I am very happy with all the fundamental explanations on why certain techniques can help you out with a project problem. Stakeholder participation, requirements, testing, development strategies, it is all in there. And best of all, without hype.

My favorite chapter is "Stealth Methodology Adoption" which explains how to sell to higher level management that you are going agile.

With contributions from Scott Ambler, Alistair Cockburn, Larry Constantine and Ronald Jeffries you know that the advice presented is from real experts.

As part of my daily job, I lead agile projects in a large organization. I usually use a number of different sources to get the information that I need on different aspects of agile development and leading agile projects. I really like this book for a number of reasons: (1) I like the fact that it is written by a number of respected experts in the area; (2) I like its style in chapters like 5 that summarizes lessons learned in a set of principles; (3) Chapter like 14 clears confusions on topics like "agile documentation".

I enjoy and benefit from this book and you should find it useful if you are also engaged in leading and managing agile projects.

I bought this book hoping it would shed some light on things like paired programming, scrum and other agile techniques. It didn't. What it did do was give me a bunch of short, very well written essays on how to run an agile project.

There are so many different voices in this book, with so many papers, that you are bound to find a bunch you really like, and a few you don't. However, the format makes everything tight and digestible. There is no rambling in this book.

If you are thinking of going Agile, or have a bunch of developers who keep using "agile phrases" this is a great book!

One highlight is a negative article, explaining why Agile sucks. It was very brave, and very clever to include this article, and really helped to bring everything into perspective.

P.S. I bough "Extreme Programming Explained" after this, and it really felt flat compared to this. Yes it had more explanation of techniques in XP, but they were not as well explained or as well supported as this book.

I am an experienced IT Project Manager, primarily using the traditional waterfall approach to projects. My new organization uses Agile with Scrum, so I picked up a few books to bring myself up to speed. I was expecting a bit more from this particular book. By "hit or miss" I mean that this is not a "book" but more a collection of magazine articles, essays, conference papers and what almost look like master's thesis'. There are 17 different authors, and the chapters run the gamut of writing styles and readability. Some of them are so dense with footnotes, it would take days just to go through 10 pages. Others are exeptionally well written and easy to assimilate.

The graphics are abysmal. They are literally screen grabs and are not at publication resolution - to the point that some are quite literally unreadible. The version that I purchased (on Amazon) was printed in 2005, but it reprints articles that are up to 6 years old!

Although there are some gems in this book, it is certainly not work the $40 list price. You'd be better spending your money elsewhere.

If you want a book that presents a comprehensive argument for AND against Agile methods, then you may enjoy this read. I was expecting a more practical hands on book based on the title and more positive reviews. As an experience PM, I found most of the "practical" portions of the book to be common sense, or at the very least, basic PM skills regardless of the methodology used. The one thing that struck me most about this book is it is actually a collection of publications by multiple authors. The problem with this approach is the book really doesn't flow from chapter to chapter very well. In many chapters you find yourself frustrated by the fact the "this author" is repeating content presented by another author in earlier chapters, and not in a particularly helpful way.

So bottom line - if you are an experienced PM looking for insights into how to manage Agile projects, look elsewhere. If you are an inexperienced PM thinking this book will give you the fundamentals for managing Agile projects (or any other projects for that matter), look elsewhere. If you are torn on whether Agile is the right approach for your project, you may find this book of some use. Still the price of this book demands much more.

I wish I had this book when I was a project manager full time. It's something I'll keep on my shelves as a reference manual for years to come. You can read it straight through or pick a section that helps you get unstuck on your current project.

I was having trouble influencing stakeholders, so I dug into the section on agile meetings. What I like about the whole agile approach is that it is about managing change. I often have trouble AFTER the project's end date because the implementation gets taken over semi-reluctantly. Aguanno's techniques help to change that.

I enjoyed this book very much. It takes the best of "Agile" from across the industry and consolidates it into chapters by different authors. It's well written and teaches the basics of Agile and how to manage projects in that environment. A good book for a project manager that is new to Agile programming.

Reviewed by Regan Windsor for Reader Views (3/07)


"Managing Agile Projects" provides a comprehensive and well-balanced look at the various components of agile project management. It contains a compilation of "chapters" from seventeen industry authors.

Describing the key elements of agile methodology, "Managing Agile Projects" provides an analysis of iterative and incremental delivery, active stakeholder participation, communication, agile documentation, extreme testing, and quality focus. Through real and hypothetical examples readers gain a thorough understanding of how agile methodology is applied to project management.

Kevin Aguanno has done an excellent job of compiling publications and agile community expertise into an easy to read, articulate guidebook covering the history of agile methods, how the methodology differs from traditional methods, when the methodology works, and in what situations it may not be appropriate in its entirety.

"Managing Agile Projects" is a recommended read for all project managers, software developers, and anyone with an interest in leading edge methodology!

Received book free of charge.