Table Of ContentPraise for Agile Management for Software Engineering
“At last! While software engineers will design systems around the
common principles of software engineering, the same level of rigor
has not been paid to the management principles. I highly recom-
mend this book to anyone who is looking to bridge current thinking
on management and process control to the management of software
development. If you are accountable for not just software develop-
ment but also making your business a success, then read this book.”
—Craig Hayman, VP Development, IBM Pervasive Computing
“Finally, a book that takes Theory of Constraints and Critical
Chain thinking and applies them to software development. Reading
this book will change how you think about software projects.”
—Mike Cohn, Director of Articles, Agile Alliance
“In 2001 Sprint PCS faced the challenge of how to literally invent
the systems and applications necessary to launch the first nation-
wide high speed wireless data service, PCS Vision. With “Agile
Management...” David Anderson does a good job of describing the
methods employed at Sprintpcs.com in Kansas City to deliver on that
challenge—over 250 people practicing Feature Driven Development
and reporting their progress to me at the monthly operations review.
Through a lean and agile approach Sprint delivered in August 2002—
introducing more than a million people to a color-screen, Java-
capable phone with PCS Vision service.”
—Scott B. Relf, Chief Marketing Office, Sprint PCS
“Examining a subject from a different perspective can result
in new insight. In this book, David does exactly this for the agile
software development process phenomenon.”
—Stephen R. Palmer, co-author “A Practical Guide
to Feature Driven Development”
“A tremendous contribution to the literature of the field. This
should be required reading for all development teams going forward.”
—John F. Yuzdepski, VP & GM Openwave Systems
The Coad Series
Peter Coad, Series Editor
(cid:1) David J. Anderson
Agile Management for Software Engineering:
Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results
(cid:1) David Astels
Test Driven Development: APractical Guide
(cid:1) David Astels, Granville Miller, Miroslav Novak
APractical Guide to eXtreme Programming
(cid:1) Andy Carmichael, Dan Haywood
Better Software Faster
(cid:1) Dirk Krafzig, Karl Banke, Dirk Slama
Enterprise SOA: Service-Oriented Architecture Best Practices
(cid:1) James McGovern, Scott W. Ambler, Michael E. Stevens,
James Linn, Vikas Sharan, Elias Jo
APractical Guide to Enterprise Architecture
(cid:1) Jill Nicola, Mark Mayfield, Michael Abney
Streamlined Object Modeling: Patterns, Rules, and Implementation
(cid:1) Stephen R. Palmer, John M. Felsing
APractical Guide to Feature-Driven Development
About the Series
The Coad Series is a growing collection of practical guides “from the
trenches.” The series focuses on key “must be addressed” IT pain
points, felt by leaders around the globe. The series is especially
suited for CIOs, IT department managers, technology leaders, and
change agents. The Coad Series addresses the four dimensions of
successful IT: technology, process, people, and vision. For the series,
Peter Coad personally selects authors and topics and then mentors
the authors at a strategic level along the way.
About the Series Editor
Peter Coad (pronounced “code”) is senior vice president and chief
strategist of Borland (http://www.borland.com) Software
Corporation. Coad collaborates with fellow Borland execs in
formulating long-term business and product strategies. Peter also
represents Borland worldwide as a thought leader, industry
luminary, and evangelist among CXOs, technical department
managers, and developers.
Peter is globally recognized as an accomplished business strategist,
model builder, and thought leader. As business strategist, Peter
formulates long-term competitive strategies for Borland. Previously,
as Chairman, CEO, and President of TogetherSoft, he led in growing
that company 11.6 times revenue in the span of two years, overall
profitably. As model builder, Peter has built hundreds of models for
nearly every business imaginable, fully focused on building-in
strategic business advantage. As thought leader, Peter writes books
(six to date) on building better software faster; he speaks at industry
events worldwide; and he is the Editor-in-Chief of The Coad Series,
published by Prentice Hall; in addition, Peter was an invited speaker
on business strategy at the 2003 “Future in Review” conference.
Coad attended the Stanford Executive Program for Growing
Companies and received a Master of Science in Computer Science
(USC) and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Electrical
Engineering (OSU).
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Agile
Management
for Software
Engineering
Applying the Theory
of Constraints
for Business Results
David J. Anderson
Foreword by Eli Schragenheim
PRENTICE HALL
Professional Technical Reference
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
www.phptr.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anderson, David J. (David James)
Agile management for software engineering / David Anderson
p. cm
Includes index
ISBN 0-13-142460-2.
1. Software engineering. 2. Computer software--Development--Management. I. Title
QA76.75 .A48 2003
005.1--dc22
2003017798
Editorial/production supervision: Carlisle Publishers Services
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© 2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference
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Prentice Hall PTR offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or
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Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
ISBN 0-13-142460-2
Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at Hamilton in Castleton, New York.
10th Printing September 2009
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For Nicola and Mikiko—the agile Andersons
Contents
Foreword xxi
Introduction xxv
Acknowledgements xxxv
SECTION 1 Agile Management 1
chapter 1 Theories for Agile Management 3
The Theory of Constraints 3
Just-in-Time Inventory 4
Quality 5
Lean Production 5
Six Sigma 6
Comparison of Theories 6
Scientific Proof for Agile Management 7
Empirical Versus Defined Processes 9
Convergent Versus Divergent Processes 10
Chaos Theory and Uncertainty 10
Systems Thinking and Learning Organizations 11
Emergence 11
Summary 12
chapter 2 Management Accounting for Systems 13
A General System 13
Detail Complexity Versus Systems Complexity 15
Throughput Accounting for General Systems 15 ix
