Reviews for DSDM: Business Focused Development (The Agile Software Development Series)

1. Good intro to DSDM

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, January 12nd, 2001

   I found this to be a good, clear book (in comparison to the DSDM Manual!) covering the essentials of the subject.

   I'll leave it to others to comment on the accuracy or completeness, but I do give this book to any new staff member as an introduction to what they can expect.

   And yes, I must admit, it is a little pricy for what it is (but I'd still recommend it).

2. Clarifies the DSDM Manual

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2000

   The DSDM manual is somewhat unstructured. This book brings it together quite nicely and fills a few gaps too. Good clarification on how to organise timeboxes. If you're implementing DSDM, then I'd still recommend going on the training courses and involving a consultant in your first project.

3. I can't believe I paid £32 for such a short book!

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, October 12nd, 2000

   I had to buy this book for University. Although I am sure that the book is very good I think that it is seriously over priced for what it is, especially for students.

4. Heaps of very interesting points

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2000

   The topics are very interesting - and the book has lot of nice information. An eye-opener really! But, in writing style it just misses a bit.

5. A well-written, if brief, practical book.

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 1998

   I would agree with the previous reader's comments. This is a very well written, readable book which explores the subject of RAD using the DSDM framework. The author has taken a very practical stance when writing the book with many references to real-life accounts of project failure/success & as such ensures the book is a useful companion for the practising DSDM project manager (or manager-to-be). If I had a complaint it would be that the book is a tad light on content and some of the case studies have been written by the external systems houses who have used DSDM on projects they feel went well - hence, one gets the impression that in some cases the accounts are a little biased, and have been used to promote the respective companies' abilities. However, the case study of (the then) British Telecom is very interesting in that it covers a pilot DSDM project and refers to social/organisational/political pressures and how these might be avoided. I should also add that the book is endorsed by the DSDM Consortium & is written by the Chairman of its Technical Work Group. I would recommend this book to anyone considering moving into RAD, or anyone who has tried RAD and found it didn't quite work - chances are you'll discover why it failed when you read the book...