The genetic improvement of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) has been a century old endeavor at institutions in North America and Mexico. This chapter describes Improvement programs focussing on a wide range of biotic and abiotic production constraints, traits for local adaptation, and consumer quality, with yield being the overriding challenge for most bean breeding programs. The chapter assesses the wide range of breeding procedures used to improve bean yields, from ideotype breeding to Quantitative Trait Analysis (QTL) of yield traits. The chapter discusses the impact of these procedures on yield gains and the future role of genomic research on yield improvement of the common bean.