Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results

by David J. Anderson, Eli Schragenheim (Foreword by)

This book is certainly about software development management, but it is also a book about business. Managers can no longer afford to discuss these two topics independently. This book is meant to eliminate the seat-of-the-pants intuition and rough approximations that have been far too prevalent in software development management. The growing popularity of agile methods has shown that a healthy balance between strict process and individual flexibility can be achieved. David Anderson takes it a step farther, and explains how the healthy balance of agility can help businesses become more profitable. The result is a book that will allow managers to foster teams that produce better software, less expensively, on time, and with fewer defects.

Genres: Management, Business, Nonfiction, Computer Science

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

David is an innovator in management thinking for 21st Century businesses. Author and pioneer of the Kanban Method he has more than 30 years’ experience working in the high-technology industry. David previously worked at IBM, Sprint, Motorola, and Microsoft where he developed the Kanban Method to greatly improving business outcomes on an enterprise-scale.

Originator of the Kanban Method, and co-creator of the Kanban Maturity Model, the Fit-for-Purpose Framework, and Enterprise Services Planning. David is a global leader in management training and leadership development for professional services, and intangible goods industries.

He is the author of 7 leading books for modern business with the most renowned being published in 2010 “KANBAN: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business” which is in the top 5 best-selling Agile books of all time.

David also founded Kanban University, which includes over 400 accredited trainers and consultants. In addition, he created multiple global Kanban conferences and is the Chairman of the David J. Anderson School of Management which provides training in 21st-century business practices for enterprise agility, business resilience, and organizational maturity.

The group of companies founded by David is held within Mauvius Group Inc. This group of companies is focused on improving the quality of management, leadership, and decision making for 21st-century businesses.

Reviews

[Gustavo Leiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book describes some of the concepts of Theory of Constraints, and how they can be applied to an Agile methodology. Ideas like small batches, controlled inventory, flow, constraints elevation among others.
If you’re not familiar with the ToC, the toyota practices, and other related trends then you can get a lot from this book. Otherwise it may seem a bit repetitive . Regardless, it’s a good guide to keep using as refresher.
Also good content about keeping quality close to the source, in particular it shows good hypothesis about unit testing and code reviews.

[Nathalie Karasek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, connecting and comparing different agile methods, TOC and also traditional methods. Giving a lot of information about “numbers” like metrics and finance. An “Agile Management handbook”.

[Ciprian Dobre-Trifan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A valiant attempt at making software development less of an art and more of a science, by employing ToC metrics.

I liked the translation of ToC concepts into the world of software.

Also some very interesting ideas for metrics and nice comparisons of some known agile methodologies.

Advocating FDD quite a lot.

[Collin Rogowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough book about applying the theory of constraints to agile processes. It's becoming a bit dated (which shows e.g. in the choice of agile process presented), but everything in it is still valid. The reasoning/argumentation is very rigid and formal which is not that common in agile literature. In this regards it (still) fills a gap, IMO.

[gramakri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the first few books on Agile which goes beyond presenting the anecdotal benefits of Agile and discusses the business metrics which can be used to quantify the ROI.
Read more about this book in my
Professional Blog.

[Jack Vinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stuff. More software development methodology than I need, but I really enjoyed the connections between Theory of Constraints and Agile. And I blogged a review, of course. https://www.jackvinson.com/blog/2012/...