More Effective Agile: A Roadmap for Software Leaders

I gave the book two stars instead of one because It may be okay as a light and high level overview of agile topics if you prescribe to the school of thought that all agile = scrum. I have a difficult time when an author consistently refers to his own past work as a source of truth.The author owns a scrum consulting and training company so the books heavy emphasis on scrum is expected but not especially helpful. The concepts are also heavily project focused (the scrum of 15 years ago) rather than product oriented.Bottom line ... the book is shallow and full of scrum prescriptions. You would do much better to look to primary agile and lean product sources and avoid this rehash of old ideas.

There is much to love about this book.Steve McConnell, undoubtedly one of the most knowledgeable authors in the software development process and management space, has written a definitive book on the practical application of the Agile development method.The book “More Effective Agile” is an serious person’s guide to contemporary software development methodology, which cuts through some of the idealistic bluster that surrounds “Agile” and focuses on identifying the key underlying principles of Agile that have proven universally applicable and successful. This content is complemented with a set of aligned management practices that allows the reader to understand how Agile fits within the full business context.Although the intended audience is software leaders, any Agile practitioner will find this book richly rewarding, and I can see how a young development engineer might use this book to constructively challenge the status quo.The book is well written and organized and the content is easy to translate to practice as each chapter ends with a “Suggested Leadership Actions” section. Throughout the book there is ample evidence of the author’s deep knowledge and the practical experience distilled from his many contributors. In reading the acknowledgments, it is very clear that the author has been able to engage with a large set of reviewers (in full disclosure I was one of them), which suggests that this book may come close to representing a consensus of the industry. As such, this book may come to be regarded as a foundational reference for Agile practitioners.

The last part of the book is named - "Summary of Key Principles". I think this is better name for this book - Key principles of creating Software. This book is clean spirit of Steve multi- years experience in creating software, writing and teaching about software organizations, development and at the end its about life.I don't want to spoil and describe pro & contra of the book. Just want to say that even with my 35 years in software - coding, management, business, BOD - it's one of the most valuable & interesting reading with a lot of notes & TBD marks. Must read & think & implement what is missed off in your organization, if your business is software creation.

Steve has brought together his vast experience to create a book that is helping me improve the effectiveness of agile practices across my engineering teams. It speaks to a wide audience of from experienced practitioners who want to improve, to leaders who are new to agile.

McConnell's practical experience was liberally augmented with academic/publication references. The book is a natural follow-up and expansion of his earlier books "Code Complete" and "Rapid Development."

My company is getting a lot of value out of this book.

Steve McConnell is one of the most insightful and influential voices in the software development arena and this book is doesn't disappoint. You'll need a couple of highlighters and several packs of Post-It tags when you read this book. You may think you know Agile, and you may believe you're using it effectively, but McConnell provides hundreds of thoughtful and practical ideas and concepts for improving your Agile results.If you're using Scrum, he has a number of suggestions and practices that will help tighten and refine the Scrum environment. I found his "Failure Mode" discussions to be painfully true--I was nodding in agreement and virtual fist-bumping on nearly every page.After reading this book, those preparing to adopt Agile principles and practices will understand where Agile can derail and how to prevent such occurrences: "More Effective Agile" gets into the dark corners of software development leadership with real-world scenarios and explanations. Those first few Agile projects are critical and knowing what to expect, as well as having suggested remedies at hand, can greatly de-stress teams and leadership.Finally, the reader will find plenty of material useful in explaining Agile practices and benefits to non-Agile management. These chapters will be valuable when trying to get that first project started and additional supporters on the bandwagon.Overall, "More Effective Agile" is a highly useful book, dense with ideas, and destined to be well-thumbed. It's "Code Complete" for the Agile world and highly recommended.

Definitely worth a read for anyone wanting to work in an agile way or already using it. It’s great to hear real feedback from Steve’s work with other companies and his distillation of that into key pieces of practical advice. The experience of working in a regulated industry is particularly relevant to us. Thanks Steve!

Just skimmed the content having received the book yesterday. Illuminating insights from a master in the field. Great service from Amazon in dealing with a delivery issue.

If you are involved with developing software or managing those who do, you should buy this book. Steve McConnell is one of the industry's most experienced and thoughtful authors on software development.

The book does not fullfil its promise of advise on how to achieve a "more effective agile". At least few real-world examples and multiple "war stories" would be expected from such an experienced author as Mr. McConnell. Instead the book delivers repeatively the same Scrum theory you can find in numerous other titles, like: what is a sprint, what is a retrospective and how are teams forming.I bought all books by Steve McConnell, starting from 1993 edition of his "Code Complete", 1996 "Rapid development", etc. His books about programming were excellent. Sadly, he turned his attention from programming to project management issues in his following titles ...To sum it up: the book was a disappointment for me. I expected something more from Mr. McConnell, thandry, boring theory ...