Book Review

The Software Project Manager’s Bridge to Agility

by Michele Sliger & Stacia Broderick

Addison-Wesley, 2008 (A publication in The Agile Software Development Series, Alistair Cockburn and Jim Highsmith, Series Editors)

Reviewed by James Ure, PMP

If you are a project manager versed in traditional project management practices and are looking to make the transition into the agile world, then this is a must have title. Get it now and keep it close by your desk! This book is a wonderful resource that covers a wide range of topics filled with practical nuts and bolts examples, and helpful guidance. It is also included in the Reference Materials list for the PMI-ACP Exam.

The authors are both committed agilists who are also both PMP certified. They started their careers as project managers leading traditional plan-driven software projects, and now have deep experience and an understanding of how project management functions within both realms. Most importantly, they thoroughly understand how the role of a project manager is different in an agile context. Broderick gives us good insight into her own journey in the introduction; “For me to cross the agility bridge, I had to understand what it meant to put others before me…I had to learn how to facilitate and listen for problems underneath the surface…I had to learn that the people doing the work know the work the best and will figure out the best way to get from point A to Z. All they really needed me for was to clear the path.”

The book has three sections–Part 1: An Agile Overview; Part 2: The Bridge: Relating PMBOK^® Guide Practices to Agile Practices; and Part 3: Crossing the Bridge to Agile. Part 2 is the most substantial and is organized by topics everyone familiar with the PMP exam will recognize: Integration Management, Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Human Resources Management, Communications Management, Risk Management, and Procurement Management. Each chapter discusses how these topics are handled with agile practices and includes reference charts showing summary comparisons of Traditional to Agile processes. These side-by-side comparisons are helpful and reveal the book at its best.

A good example is the Time Management chapter. Here the core concept of planning is covered. The authors start with a solid rationale for agile planning being designed for change, and its focus on delivering business value. They cover concepts on Release planning and Iteration planning, emphasizing that detailed task level plans are only generated within an Iteration when the actual development work will be done. Estimating methods are described, including story points, which are used to approximate the relative size of work areas and to help gauge the pace or velocity that the team can achieve the work in. Comparison tables are presented throughout the book, that provide a summary comparison, by topic. The following excerpt shows this for the process of “Activity Definition” (page 96):

Each of the Part 2 chapters ends with summary notes and a final comparison table from the project manager perspective. The following is the chapter summary table on Time Management (page 108):

Suggestion: If you don’t have much time or if you want a reminder, just read the summary chapters and comparison tables. These get to the heart of the matter.

But don’t ignore or skip over other parts of this book! The Agile Overview in Part 1 is an excellent presentation of the key agile concepts and practice. Chapter 3 is one of the best presentations of the agile lifecycle I’ve read. It covers the concepts of Product Vision, Product Roadmap, Release Planning, and Iteration Planning. These are core concepts that project managers moving to agile need to understand and master.

The third section of the book (Crossing the Bridge to Agile) has specialized topics that will appeal to many different readers, particularly those who find themselves in need of practical guidance. Topics include: How Will My Responsibilities Change? How Will I work with other Teams Who Aren’t Agile? Common Mistakes. Selling to Management. How Are We Supposed to Do Our Budget? Our Situation Is Just Too Complicated for Agile. Our People Can’t Be Trusted To Self-Organize. How Can We Make Strategic Decisions without Gantt Charts? Etc. There are over 50 individual topics covered from real work world circumstances.

The only topic I find missing is a discussion of when to use agile, including what organizational and project circumstances are best suited for agile adoption, and how to make that decision. There may be an implicit assumption that any project can benefit from agile. Or perhaps the authors assume that this decision has already been made. This shortfall, however, is minor. If you are looking for a simple presentation on factors for agile suitability, the Wikipedia article on “Agile Software Development” has a good section on this topic.

One of the strengths of the book is that it retains a generic approach to agile practices. Like many agile books, Scrum is ever present, but this isn’t a Scrum manual. Another strength is that it is a valuable resource for any project manager at any stage in their career. The bridge theme focuses on project managers transitioning from plan driven (traditional) to value driven (agile) projects, but the lasting impact of the book is much deeper. The “bridge” we are crossing is not just from one methodology to another. Despite the methods we use, project managers need to continually cross the bridge of improvement. Michele Sliger and Stacia Broderick have given us a practical guide for our journey.

About the Reviewer

James Ure, PMP, is the IT Officer at Tualatin Valley Water District. He is a seasoned project manager with PMP certification since 2001 and has led agile adoptions for multiple organizations.