Essential Kanban Condensed - David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael

Kanban is a method of organizing and managing professional services work.
It uses Lean concepts such as limiting work in progress to improve results. A Kanban system is a means of balancing the demand for work to be done with the available capacity to start new work. 
This book provides a distillation of Kanban: the "essence" of what it is and how it can be used. 
This brief overview introduces all the principal concepts and guidelines in Kanban and points you to where you can find out more. 
Essential Kanban Condensed is a great resource to get started or continue exploring ideas for evolutionary change and improvement in business agility.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com  ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.95 out of 5 (21  Ratings; 4 Reviews - As on April 10 2017)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments:  A very precise summary of The Kanban Method that serves as a great introduction to the topic and provides guidance for further study. 
Probably the first book one should read about The Kanban Method.  

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Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business by David J. Anderson

Kanban is becoming a popular way to visualize and limit work-in-progress in software development and information technology work. 
Teams around the world are adding kanban around their existing processes to catalyze cultural change and deliver better business agility. This book answers the questions: 
What is Kanban? 
Why would I want to use Kanban? 
How do I go about implementing Kanban? 
How do I recognize improvement opportunities and what should I do about them? 
The author David J. Anderson pioneered the kanban technique with Microsoft in 2004 and has been refining the approach ever since.
This book gives his insights into this new, evolutionary approach to change management.
The Kanban Method will improve your organization's maturity and agility with minimum resistance to change.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com  ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.96 out of 5 (1739  Ratings; 80 Reviews - As on April 9 2017)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments:  The official and comprehensive introduction to the Kanban Method. Well written with convincing enough arguments to try out Kanban. 

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Kanban and Scrum - Making the Most of Both by Henrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarin

Scrum and Kanban are two flavors of Agile software development - two deceptively simple but surprisingly powerful approaches to software development. 
So how do they relate to each other?
The purpose of this book is to clear up the fog, so you can figure out how Kanban and Scrum might be useful in your environment.
Part I illustrates the similarities and differences between Kanban and Scrum, comparing for understanding, not for judgement. 
There is no such thing as a good or bad tool - just good or bad decisions about when and how to use which tool.
Part II is a case study illustrating how a Scrum-based development organization implemented Kanban in their operations and support teams.
Consistent with the style of "Scrum and XP from the Trenches", this book strikes a conversational tone and is bursting with practical examples and pictures.
This book includes:

• Kanban and Scrum in a nutshell
• Comparison of Kanban and Scrum and other Agile methods
• Practical examples and pitfalls
• Cartoons and diagrams illustrating day-to-day work
• Detailed case study of a Kanban implementation within a Scrum organization

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com  ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.94 out of 5 (448 Ratings; 46 Reviews - As on April 7 2017)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments:  A very concise and too-the-point book that brings out the similarities and differences between Scrum and Kanban approaches clearly. The conversational style writing  supported by illustrations and cartoons makes it a very light weight and interesting reading. It also has a  well described case study drawn from real-life experience of the authors. Highly recommend this  book to get a super-quick introduction to how Scrum and Kanban can work together.
 
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Running Lean - Ash Maurya

Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works
We live in an age of unparalleled opportunity for innovation. 
We're building more products than ever before, but most of them fail--not because we can't complete what we set out to build, but because we waste time, money, and effort building the wrong product.
What we need is a systematic process for quickly vetting product ideas and raising our odds of success. 
That's the promise of Running Lean.

In this inspiring book, Ash Maurya takes you through an exacting strategy for achieving a "product/market fit" for your fledgling venture, based on his own experience in building a wide array of products from high-tech to no-tech. 
Throughout, he builds on the ideas and concepts of several innovative methodologies, including the Lean Startup, Customer Development, and bootstrapping.

Running Lean is an ideal tool for business managers, CEOs, small business owners, developers and programmers, and anyone who's interested in starting a business project.

Get to know how to:

• Find a problem worth solving, then define a solution
• Engage your customers throughout the development cycle
• Continually test your product with smaller, faster iterations
• Build a feature, measure customer response, and verify/refute the idea
• Know when to "pivot" by changing your plan's course
• Maximize your efforts for speed, learning, and focus
• Learn the ideal time to raise your "big round" of funding

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com  ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.07 out of 5 (5,970 Ratings; 141 Reviews - As on March 31 2017)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments:  Nice cook book to jump start your Lean Startup process !
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Manage Your Project Portfolio - Johanna Rothman

Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects
All of your projects and programs make up your portfolio. 
But how much time you actually spend on your projects, and how much time do you spend responding to emergencies?

This book will introduce you to different ways of ordering all of the projects you are working on now, and help you figure out how to staff those projects--even when you've run out of project teams to do the work.

Once you learn to manage your portfolio better, you'll avoid emergency "firedrills." 
The trick is adopting lean and agile approaches to projects, whether they are software projects, projects that include hardware, or projects that depend on chunks of functionality from other suppliers.

You may be accustomed to spending time in meetings where you still don't have the data you need to evaluate your projects.
Here, with a few measures, you'll be able to quickly evaluate each project and come to a decision quickly.

You'll learn how to define your team's, group's, or department's mission with none of the buzzwords that normally accompany a mission statement. 
Armed with the work and the mission, you can make those decisions that define the true leaders in the organization.
 [Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.61 out of 5 (127 Ratings; 17 Reviews - As on February 04 2017)
My Rating:  3.0 out of 5
My Comments: Good tips on managing the Agile project portfolios.


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Agile Portfolio Management - Jochen Krebs

Agile development processes foster better collaboration, innovation, and results. 
So why limit their use to software projects—when you can transform your entire business?
Written by agile-mentoring expert Jochen Krebs, this book illuminates the opportunities—and rewards—of applying agile processes to your overall IT portfolio.
Whether project manager, business analyst, or executive—you’ll understand the business drivers behind agile portfolio management. 
And learn best practices for optimizing results.
Use agile processes to 

• Align IT and business strategy
• Adapt and extend core agile processes
• Orchestrate the collaboration between IT and business vision
• Eliminate wish-list driven requirements, and manage expectations instead
• Optimize the balance of projects, resources, and assets in your portfolio
• Use metrics to communicate project status, quality, even team morale
• Create a portfolio strategy consistent with the goals of the organization
• Achieve organizational and process transparency
• Manage your business with agility—and help maximize the returns!

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.42 out of 5 (19 Ratings; 3 Reviews - As on January 21 2017)
My Rating:  3.0 out of 5
My Comments: Good tips on managing the Agile project portfolios.


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101 Design Ingredients to Solve Big Tech Problems by Eewei Chen

One page, one ingredient. 101 reasons to become more successful at solving those big technology problems. 
101 Design Ingredients will help your technology team identify problems, share responsibilities, and work better together.

In parts 1 through 4, you'll find 101 problem-solving ingredients grouped into project stages, to help you apply the right ingredient at the right time. 
Start at any point and page through the humorously illustrated ingredients until you find one that matches your needs best. 
The ingredients cover the spectrum your business needs to be successful, with tips on team-building, creating a business model, product launch, productivity, and much more. 
Each ingredient includes three practical suggestions to get you started right away.

In part 5, you'll see examples of how companies can blend some of the ingredients used in this book to solve specific business requirements for investment, innovation, leadership, and more. Each recipe shows how a company fine-tuned six of the ingredients to build their own unique solution. 
You'll learn how to mix and match ingredients to create your own recipes for success, tailored to your company's needs.

The ingredients and recipes in this book can be applied by beginners starting out on their first technology project, as well as seasoned professionals who have been tackling the same big problems for years and need a fresh new approach to problem solving.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.03 out of 5 (30 Ratings; 5 Reviews - As on December 25 2016)
My Rating:  3 out of 5
My Comments: Has got nice cartoons and lots of links which may be of interest. Content wise just OK.


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Scrum Insights for Practitioners - Hiren Doshi

The Scrum Guide Companion 

Hiren Doshi, Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer & Coach in his book, Scrum Insights for Practitioners: The Scrum Guide Companion helps the practitioners master the Scrum framework by gaining in-depth practical insights and helps answer questions like: 

• What are some common myths, mysteries, and misconceptions of Scrum?
• The Scrum Guide recommends three to nine members in a Development Team, but we have fifteen members. Is this Scrum?
• Can you share some tactics to do effective Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, and Product Backlog Refinement?
• My designation is development manager. Does this mean I have no role in Scrum?
• How is Scrum Empirical?
• Can Scrum Master and Product Owner be the same person?
• We don’t have a Scrum Master. Are we still practicing Scrum?
• What does Self-Organization really mean?
• How does Scrum embrace the four values and twelve principles of the Agile Manifesto?
• Please share a case study on Scrum based product development?

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4 out of 5 (1 Rating; 0 Reviews - As on December 10 2016)
My Rating:  3.5 out of 5
My Comments: This book will help you understand the nuances of Scrum.
It takes a very practical approach towards implementing Scrum without compromising on its values and principles.
Perhaps the first book on Scrum that newbies should read after going through the official Scrum Guide.
A useful and handy reference for Scrum practitioners!


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