Rating: 
Summary: Boldly States What Every IT Manager Needs to Know!
Review: Before adding my two cents, I must state that I previously co-authored a book with Roy Miller and have worked with him for almost three years. However, Roy wrote this one on his own and I receive no financial benefit from the sale of this book.I recently read this book from cover to cover... it was hard to put down. The author exposes the idea proffered by many explicitly or implicitly that software production should be treated like a manufacturing process for what it is... a lie, falsehood, misconception, and/or misapplication-of-theory. But he doesn't just say that. Anyone can casually say that, and many have. They might even get some others to agree with them. But the agreement is often shallow and those who nodded in the affirmative usually walk away unchanged. This book exists to make sure that doesn't happen if the reader stays tuned in through the entire book. Drawing upon experience, research, and thorough reasoning, the author suggests:
* the original mental model (optimization theory) and where it came from
* why this mental model, when applied to software development, is wrong
* a new series of mental models we can use to explain how software development must be
* suggestions for what to do with the new mental model and how to apply it to increase the effectiveness of software development. The author states that many will reject this book. It's full of what many don't want to hear in the first part of the book and it keeps hammering it home from a variety of angles. I challenge all IT managers to have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out and read through it. Then give it to everyone else in your IT management chain. Hopefully, you'll stay tuned in through to the end and it will make the world for both managers and the developers under them a better place... not to mention saving companies a lot of money that they currently throw away due to painfully wrong management techniques.
Rating:
Summary: Boldly States What Every IT Manager Needs to Know!
Review: Before adding my two cents, I must state that I previously co-authored a book with Roy Miller and have worked with him for almost three years. However, Roy wrote this one on his own and I receive no financial benefit from the sale of this book. I recently read this book from cover to cover... it was hard to put down. The author exposes the idea proffered by many explicitly or implicitly that software production should be treated like a manufacturing process for what it is... a lie, falsehood, misconception, and/or misapplication-of-theory. But he doesn't just say that. Anyone can casually say that, and many have. They might even get some others to agree with them. But the agreement is often shallow and those who nodded in the affirmative usually walk away unchanged. This book exists to make sure that doesn't happen if the reader stays tuned in through the entire book. Drawing upon experience, research, and thorough reasoning, the author suggests:
* the original mental model (optimization theory) and where it came from
* why this mental model, when applied to software development, is wrong
* a new series of mental models we can use to explain how software development must be
* suggestions for what to do with the new mental model and how to apply it to increase the effectiveness of software development. The author states that many will reject this book. It's full of what many don't want to hear in the first part of the book and it keeps hammering it home from a variety of angles. I challenge all IT managers to have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out and read through it. Then give it to everyone else in your IT management chain. Hopefully, you'll stay tuned in through to the end and it will make the world for both managers and the developers under them a better place... not to mention saving companies a lot of money that they currently throw away due to painfully wrong management techniques.
Rating:
Summary: Effective Application of CAS to Managing Software
Review: Complexity Science has been applied previously to software management by (at least) two leaders in software develoment: Jim Highsmith and Mike Beedle. Roy's book delves even further into the topic of complex adaptive systems, using it to expose the myth of prediction and control in the inherently complex process of software development. An entire chapter is spent introducing readers to the ideas of complexity science. The rest of the book builds upon the concepts of complex adaptive systems and eventually applies them to agile software development. Roy's coverage of the manufacturing mindset the software industry inherited from Frederick Taylor was enlightening. It exposed the assumptions that many software development managers hold and placed them in a historical context. "Managing Software for Growth" fundamentally changed the way I perceive software development projects. Although I was quite familiar with the principles of agile software development, Roy's book takes us a step further toward understanding why these principles work.
Rating:
Summary: Effective Application of CAS to Managing Software
Review: Complexity Science has been applied previously to software management by (at least) two leaders in software develoment: Jim Highsmith and Mike Beedle. Roy's book delves even further into the topic of complex adaptive systems, using it to expose the myth of prediction and control in the inherently complex process of software development. An entire chapter is spent introducing readers to the ideas of complexity science. The rest of the book builds upon the concepts of complex adaptive systems and eventually applies them to agile software development. Roy's coverage of the manufacturing mindset the software industry inherited from Frederick Taylor was enlightening. It exposed the assumptions that many software development managers hold and placed them in a historical context. "Managing Software for Growth" fundamentally changed the way I perceive software development projects. Although I was quite familiar with the principles of agile software development, Roy's book takes us a step further toward understanding why these principles work.
Rating:
Summary: An instructional guide especially for IT professionals
Review: Expertly written by Roy Miller (a team lead and XP coach at RoleModel Software with over 10 years of information technology experience), Managing Software For Growth: Without Fear, Control, And The Manufacturing Mindset is an instructional guide designed especially for IT professionals searching for means to improve efficiency in software development projects -- almost 75% (according to recent surveys) of which are over budget, late, undeliverable, or simply canceled. Individual chapters address an overview of issues affecting software program development managers, from uncertainty to the risk of losing control to using and not falling prey to the power of one's own mindset. Managing Software For Growth is a very highly recommended primer and general tip guidebook and manual.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful explanation of agility-vs-manufacturing mindset
Review: I read thru early review drafts of this book made available from the yahoo-group website for the book. What I liked most about it is that it was able to successfully convey to me not only the "manufacturing mind-set" it describes (in contrast to agility), but it also conveyed the foundations of that mindset and why it is held by so many in the industry. I never really had a good enough appreciation for that until reading this book. I think the book also does the same "justice" to the agile-mindset for "growing" software thru "emergence". It describes the foundations of agility and emergence, where they come from, what they mean, and what evidence there is and isnt for their validity. The book touches on elements of Taylorist management theory, as well as complexity theory in an approachable manner that doesnt require an advanced degree in math or physics (which is a plus :-). I also particularly like the annotated biliography at the end of the book. It lists more than just the titles of the "giants" the author stood upon to write this one, it excerpts and distills the key central concepts from each one that are relevant to the book.
Rating:
Summary: The premise is challenging, not necessarily flawed
Review: One of the oldest dilemmas in software development has been "Is software development art or science?". Of course, it's neither, but the science and engineering mindset has generally held sway, and deviations from this approach have been treated as aberrations, to be eliminated so that we could be more 'scientific'. But what if that's the wrong direction? Roy Miller explores the origins of the scientific/engineering/manufacturing mindset in software engineering, and then goes on to suggest reasons why this metaphor might not be appropriate for modern software development. He weaves strands from a number of disparate disciplines, including biology and chaos theory, to suggest alternative approaches to software development. Multi-disciplinary approaches are a common theme in modern scientific research, and it's good to see someone bringing these influences to software development. Roy's fundamental message (and he of course justifies this in detail), is that if you're looking for predictability in software development, you better get over it. Software development is a messy, human endeavour, and if we keep doing what we did, we'll keep getting what we got. Roy suggests alternative metaphors and approaches that might be more succesful in growing software. I see that at least one other reviewer has commented that the Taylorist manufacturing mindset can be applied successfully to software development. Even if that's true, it doesn't make it the only game in town, and it's worth reading Miller's work for an alternative. My own experience suggests that the Taylorist manufacturing model only works when a software project is large enough to make individual human differences irrelevant, and that projects of that size are becoming less common, and generally fail anyway. Read this book, even it it makes you uncomfortable or doesn't change your mind. You'll gain at least one new idea, and that's worth the price of admission.
Rating: 
Summary: Some Interesting Points, But The Main Premise Is Flawed
Review: There are some things in this book that are very good, but the main punchline fails to deliver. I'll highlight the ups and downs below. Good Stuff: The author does a good job of explaining Taylorism, why it works for manufacturing, and why it doesn't work for software. Taylorism assumes that a problem is predictable, controllable, and therefore needs mere optimization. Software does not fit this mold. Another thing that the author presents well is the lack of silver bullets. He presents his material as a "lead bullet" and warns against hype. This is not new or novel, but something that we need to be reminded of. He also admits that agile methods have their faults, but suggests that they are a better approach than the traditional manufacturing based software methods. Bad Stuff: There's really no other way to put it than the author goes way out in the weeds for his main premise to support growing software. He bases his arguments on complex adaptive systems as applied by Stuart Kauffman to biological evolution. This is a theory that cannot be proven, and an odd metaphor to apply to software development. However, I will let the author himself give the most incriminating testimony: "Regardless of whether or not Kauffman's hypothesis is true for biology, the idea holds interesting possibilities for human interaction in trying to solve messy problems." Miller spends the entire chapter outlining Kauffman's theory only to say in the end that it might not be true. There are much better works on taking an alternative approach to software development that lack the flaws of this book. Give Pete McBreen's "Software Craftsmanship", Tom DeMarco's "Slack" or Poppendieck and Poppendieck's "Lean Software Development" a try instead.
Rating:
Summary: Some Interesting Points, But The Main Premise Is Flawed
Review: There are some things in this book that are very good, but the main punchline fails to deliver. I'll highlight the ups and downs below. Good Stuff: The author does a good job of explaining Taylorism, why it works for manufacturing, and why it doesn't work for software. Taylorism assumes that a problem is predictable, controllable, and therefore needs mere optimization. Software does not fit this mold. Another thing that the author presents well is the lack of silver bullets. He presents his material as a "lead bullet" and warns against hype. This is not new or novel, but something that we need to be reminded of. He also admits that agile methods have their faults, but suggests that they are a better approach than the traditional manufacturing based software methods. Bad Stuff: There's really no other way to put it than the author goes way out in the weeds for his main premise to support growing software. He bases his arguments on complex adaptive systems as applied by Stuart Kauffman to biological evolution. This is a theory that cannot be proven, and an odd metaphor to apply to software development. However, I will let the author himself give the most incriminating testimony: "Regardless of whether or not Kauffman's hypothesis is true for biology, the idea holds interesting possibilities for human interaction in trying to solve messy problems." Miller spends the entire chapter outlining Kauffman's theory only to say in the end that it might not be true. There are much better works on taking an alternative approach to software development that lack the flaws of this book. Give Pete McBreen's "Software Craftsmanship", Tom DeMarco's "Slack" or Poppendieck and Poppendieck's "Lean Software Development" a try instead.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, full of original thinking
Review: This book starts by describing how Taylor's Scientific Management has lead us down the incorrect road of thinking software can be managed like steel manufacturing. The author does a great job of presenting these fundamentals and presenting the conclusion that a new model for thinking about software is needed. To find an alternative model the author draws on ideas from complexity science. He presents the idea that we need to think of software as growing rather than something we control if we can just add one more level of detail to our Gantt charts. If we think of software as emerging from the environment in which it is started we can exert influence on the growth of the software so that it grows toward our goals. However, we still can't control it like we can control steel manufacturing or an assembly line. An earlier reviewer has commented that there is much to disagree with in this book. I think the author of the book would scream "Yes! Exactly!" Of course there's much to argue and debate with in this book. The book is full of original thinking and is proposing a radical shift in the thinking of most software professionals; that is bound to stir up debate and some disagreement.
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