Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding book not just for development teams.
Review: Maguire pokes holes in the conventional wisdom concerning
leading development teams. He uses humor and real-world
examples to convey valuable information on how to run teams
effectively. Includes a highly principled view of the manager's
responsibility to the whole organization not just his/her teams.
Above all, it is valuable not just for product leads, but for anyone who manages (or would like to learn to manage)in an industry where deadlines, quality, and customer desires regularly collide.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, Lacks New Ideas
Review: Overall this is a good book that is an easy quick read. All of the ideas presented though are common sense. That being said, I have worked for enough organizations where the common sense presented in this book has been ignored. For those of you with a manager who does not believe in writing bug free quality code, buy him this book! It's even possible that he or she might understand what you are talking about when you say you hate status meetings.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Lacks New Ideas
Review: Overall this is a good book that is an easy quick read. All of the ideas presented though are common sense. That being said, I have worked for enough organizations where the common sense presented in this book has been ignored. For those of you with a manager who does not believe in writing bug free quality code, buy him this book! It's even possible that he or she might understand what you are talking about when you say you hate status meetings.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful
Review: Steve talks about all of the problems I've found common in the software development industry that stress out the development team. His discussions of problems he has faced in his own development efforts provide valuable tips on handling the pressures from management, staff and deadlines. I highly recommend this book for anyone who assumes a leadership role, not just in the software industry, but in all industries where pressure and deadlines exist.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable "How I Won the War" story
Review: The author's style is wonderful- much more personal than most texts dealing with management, while still managing to be more than a collection of 'cute' anecdotes. This book will provide the greatest benefit to professionals, such as myself, who have had a few years experience in software development processes and are looking for that 'next level' of guidance. In that respect, Steve Maguire's writing is effective because he presents knowledge to the reader as if from a mentor to an apprentice.I would, however, contrast it with another work which I believe to be equally important though radically different- "The Mythical Man Month". Where Maguire writes as a seasoned guru with an arm around your shoulder, Brooks writes like an evangelist and discusses software development on an almost religous plane. "The Mythical Man Month" also approaches the subject in a broader, more philosophical sense. In the end, I feel that I've gotten more out of each of these books having read the other. While contrasting in terms of eras (mainframe vs pc) and environments (short-sleeve button-down IBM vs hacky-sack Microsoft), it's interesting to note how many conclusions are shared between these works. Bottom-line: read this book, you'll love it :)
Rating:
Summary: Smooth reading but simplistic
Review: The language is easy to read and the style contributes to fast and smooth reading. The book can also be read very fast because there is not enough new facts in the book to slow you down. The book mainly explains the obvious (although too often ignored) practices that helps your development project: stay focused, avoid distractions, avoid interruptions, avoid wasting time, avoid unnecessary meetings (meetings are interruptions and far too often a waste of time), fix bugs early. The book has some stories to explain the above practices. But, the book has no hard facts to help you fight for the above practices in case you have a "pointy haired" boss. In my opinion "Rapid Development" by Steve McConnel is a far better book. "Rapid development" has all the hard facts that "Debugging the development process" lacks. "Rapid development" also describes more practices and has a broader view of the development project that "Debugging the development process".
Rating:
Summary: A great and terrible book.
Review: There is more than enough good advice in any one chapter to make your project (or your life) dramatically better. The problem is that the book discusses important principles through highly specific examples. It is all too easy for people to misread specific examples and come to exactly the wrong conclusion. For example, Maquire is against needless process work (what developer isn't?) He's also working at the largest software organization in the world. In the smaller organizations I've worked with there is a crying need for more process work, not less. Reading Maquire it would be easy for someone to find "evidence" that they should spend less time on design work and planning! This isn't Maquire's point, but he's not there to straighten the reader out. If you are an experienced project manager and mentor you'll resonate with a lot of what Maquire says. If you aren't that experienced this book won't teach you how to be a great project manager. Get Steve McConnell's vastly superior "Rapid Development" instead.
Rating: 
Summary: A long winded statement of the obvious
Review: This book contains some obvious advice which could easily have been condensed into under five pages. Obviously people don't pay money for five page books, so the author struggles to pad the meagre hard advice with patronising anecdotes. Life is too short to waste time reading books like this. Try the superiour "The Mythical Man Month" if you want to read software development anecdotes with some general advice. Unlike the latter, I doubt that "Debugging the Development Process" will be talked about and reprinted in 30 years time.
Rating:
Summary: Great advice, quick read
Review: This book is a must-read for anyone working on software. How many times have you been on a project that was out of control? How many times have you been in a meeting and wondered "Why am I here?" Maguire talks about these things and more. He has very easy-to-follow explanations of why things get out of control, and why you SHOULDN'T be in that meeting. He offers practical advice with logical explanations of why it makes sense. Even pointy-haired manager (especially pointy-haired managers) should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great advice, quick read
Review: This book is a must-read for anyone working on software. How many times have you been on a project that was out of control? How many times have you been in a meeting and wondered "Why am I here?" Maguire talks about these things and more. He has very easy-to-follow explanations of why things get out of control, and why you SHOULDN'T be in that meeting. He offers practical advice with logical explanations of why it makes sense. Even pointy-haired manager (especially pointy-haired managers) should read this book.
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