• Rolling Rocks Downhill

  • The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Entertaining Way to Learn Agile and Lean
  • By: Clarke Ching
  • Narrated by: Paul Kearney
  • Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (248 ratings)

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Rolling Rocks Downhill  By  cover art

Rolling Rocks Downhill

By: Clarke Ching
Narrated by: Paul Kearney
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Publisher's summary

An impossible deadline. A runaway project. And then you get the 5:30 a.m. phone call… what could possibly be wrong?

Rolling Rocks Downhill is a fast, fun and often funny read. It's a business novel, just like Eli Goldratt's classic The Goal, where you sit on the characters' shoulders, watching them fight to save their jobs and their baby - a large software-intensive project, called FPP, that has been running late since day 1, but now, suddenly, needs to launch on an impossibly early date, or else. You feel their pain, and their joy, as they battle problem after problem until, slowly, torturously, they rediscover the few - but fundamental - principles underlying successful commercial software development.

Sometimes you're a step ahead. Sometimes a step behind. Sometimes it feels like you're sitting in the room with them…

©2014, 2016 Clarke Ching (P)2016 Clarke Chning

What listeners say about Rolling Rocks Downhill

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Be agile, don't go chasing waterfalls

I liked the story-telling nature of the book. It is a novel about how to change to an agile mindset from a waterfall mindset. The main character learns the do's and dont's from a coach, which turns out to be a great way of getting some theory into a novel. The characters are realistic, somewhat stereotyped, but I think the stereotyping is actually beneficial to the book. The clear personalities helped me to transfer the setting to my own working environment.

The only complaint I have is that I think parts of the book remain too shallow for its audience. For example when the theory of constraints is introduced, it hardly gets more in depth than what intuition will teach you in the first place (tackle bottlenecks first).

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very applicable to our situation

It's comforting to hear there is a way out. Even dealing with the executives' impression of the teams' capability level; it's comforting to hear this happens elsewhere.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Better books are available

The Phoenix Project and The Goal explain the topics covered in this book in more depth and more relevant ways.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

good narration but

if you've read the goal or the phoenix project nothing new here in terms of material. was a pleasant listen though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An Agile Transition Book that really hits home

Would you listen to Rolling Rocks Downhill again? Why?

Absolutely! This book was a great story about a company that is so similar to the one I'm working that is undergoing an agile transition.

What did you like best about this story?

It's agile but doesn't scream agile at you along with Clarke's sense of humor and love for bacon is wonderful. The story was told in a way that allows me in my agile transition to take a different look at how everything is working, from the scrum teams to the executives within the organization.

Have you listened to any of Paul Kearney’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any other of Paul's performances. He was good an being an American I appreciate the UK accent!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending, how everything pulled together in the big moment with the CEO.

Any additional comments?

Clarke is an amazing author and his book is a great resource for understanding what and how agile works in a real world setting of an organization (which is oddly close to one that I work in!).

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

If you could sum up Rolling Rocks Downhill in three words, what would they be?

Fantastic agile novel.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved the lady who was technically Steve's boss. Confident and fearless.

What does Paul Kearney bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Paul has a great voice, he made the story more captivating.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great information for my first agile-ish project!

Great story! Great information that will surely help me with my first agile-ish project that has a very short time frame!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Took way too long to get to the anything tangible

I was compelled to play this at 1.5 speed just to try and fast forward to find any good takeaways. The narrator made it difficult to determine which character was which.
I finish feeling dissatisfied.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good listen

Fictional case study of a project deployment in action: I wasn't crazy about the narrator's voice but I did pick up a few ideas to apply to my own work. Worth the listen

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

wonderful story, grrat story telling,

i have told others about the book and the audible program. it was a wonderful story.

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1 person found this helpful