Past Book Review (December 22, 2007): "Agile Estimating and Planning"

Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for Agile Estimating and Planning, by Mike Cohn, Prentice Hall, 2005, reposted here:

This Robert C. Martin Series text by Mike Cohn has been unfairly criticized by previous reviewers. The content in general is very well written, and the subject matter flows very well from topic to topic. In my opinion, there is some missing detail that could have served well those readers new to the topic of estimation. In light of this observation, I think that "Software Estimation – Demystifying the Black Art" (see my review for that work) can be seen as a companion text to "Agile Estimating and Planning".

Mike Cohn simply focuses on agile projects, so if such projects are the primary focus of the reader, they might otherwise get caught up with detail that is not necessarily within their domain. From my experience, however, it will serve the agile practitioner well if they understand some of the theory behind the practice of general software project estimation. Of course, Mike Cohn also provides a considerable portion of the book to agile planning in general, and this topic is what makes the book unique in 2007.

While other books of this genre can be expected in the near future, the seven parts of the discussion cover the subject matter well: "The Problem and the Goal", "Estimating Size", "Planning for Value", "Scheduling", "Tracking and Communicating", "Why Agile Planning Works", and "A Case Study". Each of these parts build upon its predecessors, finally culminating in a case study. I found especially valuable the discussions on agile planning in general, the different methods of agile estimating, how to prioritize deliverables, project schedule iterations, velocity, and tracking.

Throughout the text, the author provides dozens of examples with just the right amount of tables and diagrams to aid the discussion. This book is a relatively easy read for a wide audience, and the quotes shared at the beginning of each of the chapters provide a humorous (although usually unintentional), realistic look at the philosophy of estimating and planning by individuals not in the software industry.

My favorite quotes of the lot: "Planning is everything. Plans are nothing."; "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."; "In a good shoe, I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good, I buy a size eight."; "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future."; "There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about."; "It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong."; "To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.".