As agile software development approaches are more and more adopted in software development organizations, the title of this book from Kurt Bittner and Ian Spence seems to be right on the target.
“Managing Iterative Software Development Projects” contains two major parts. The first gives an overview of iterative project management. It defines the concepts, discusses controlling and gives tips to assess your readiness for iterative project management. The second is a more detailed walk-through to the planning and management of iterations at different levels.
“Managing Iterative Software Development Projects” provides also information on how to assess the results of iterations, discuss the relation between iterative project management and project scales. The last chapter is dedicated to the information needed to start your first iterative project. Finally, appendices provide material on use case development (the topic of a former book from the same authors), templates, checklists and an example of 50 pages.
The process behind the book is widely based on the RUP approach. Thus, practitioners of a “pure” agile approach could be disoriented by the content, but if you want to transition to what is called a “Hybrid Agile” approach, this book will help because it contains very valuable and pragmatic material about managing iterative project management that could be used in any iterative context. It will also provide good transition information towards an iterative process for project managers that operate in a more traditional organization. With 600 pages, it is a not an easy-reading book that is quickly digested. It will nevertheless help you to improve your grasp on iterative project management, whether you read the book sequentially or you pick sections according to your current project management questions.
Reference: Managing Iterative Software Development Projects, Ian Spence & Kurt Bittner, Addison-Wesley Professional
