Architecture-Centric Software Project Management: A Practical Guide

by Daniel J. Paulish

Many software luminaries believe that architecture is the most crucial element to success in software development. This text links software architecture and project management, providing practical... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201734095
• ISBN13: 9780201734096
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Lynchpin of SEI's architecture and product-line material

The ideal audience of this book includes anyone who works within, or who follows, SEI's (Software Engineering Institute's) extensive body of work on architecture and/or product line engineering, or who needs to develop a project management framework for software development. While the approach in this book is more suited for product-oriented development, it can also be used for major internal projects.As the title implies, the focus on the project management framework is the architecture, and the key elements of the approach are planning, organizing, implementing and measuring. The latter element lends itself to continuous refinement and fits nicely into CMM level 4 and 5 organization, which is not surprising since the CMM is embedded in practically every guide produced by SEI.What makes this book special, though, is the clearly defined approach that is systematically presented using case studies and frequent diagrams to orient you as you go through the book. More importantly, the author communicates a vision and shows how to put it into practice.I like the approach because it lends itself to realistic project planning and estimation. By taking an architecture-centric approach it's easy to develop a complete work breakdown structure early in the planning phase, which provides a foundation for detailed estimating. I also like the way the approach separates, then integrates, team organization, requirements and strategy, risk management and release planning.This is not another project management methodology, but instead, shows how to use architecture as the focal point of the project and use whatever specific PM methodology suits your organization to effectively define project deliverables and the final product. It's complete, realistic and will work in practice.

PM & Global Development

Certainly the importance of mastering project management, in particular for products that contain signficant amounts of software, is crucial for business success, both at Siemens and elsewhere. This book is based on extensive practical experience and is a broad and well-written book on this topic. The special focus on software architecture as a major success factor for projects provides a useful perspective -- not only for project managers but also software architects as well as others in the software development team. This book also provides a unique "global development" perspective on the topic of project management.

Sage insight into software architecture, project management

I find this book enormously helpful with its wise insight into all aspects of software project management, in all the technical, managerial, political, marketing, and personnel areas that influence the success of software projects. Its emphasis on good architecture and design as the basis for good project management is essential for current and future project managers to understand and appreciate. The book is well-written, well researched, and very readable, particularly valuable in the insights from a manager who has worked in multiple divisions, multiple product domains, and in multiple countries with international engineering teams.

Effective Software Project Management

If you are a software project manager looking for ways to improve software development performance, then read this book. Architecture-Centric Software Project Management by Daniel Paulish is based on several years of real-life, industry experience and is full of practical advise for you to use and succeed with your software project. Software managers who have always wondered why their software teams don't/can't live up to their expectations should also find this book insightful.Written in a simple straight-forward style, this books distills the practical wisdom gained for executing successful software projects. The essence of the book is Chapter 2 that captures the motivation for architecture-centered software project planning and outlines the core principles behind it. Organized in seven parts and divided in seventeen chapters, the book integrates in its presentation almost all the aspects of software project management while maintaining the architecture-centered view for executing software projects. Among its various chapters and topics the ones that particularly appealed to me are: Global Analysis (Chapter 3), Global Development (Chapter 6), Trade-offs and Project Decisions (Chapter 9) and Incremental Development (Chapter 10). In its part six, Paulish also presents two cases to illustrate the techniques described in the book.With software projects becoming increasingly complex and globally distributed software development becoming a business necessity, Paulish's book should be of help to both the seasoned and novice software project managers alike. After all, the most powerful ideas and techniques are those that are simple in nature but require a passionate and well thought-out implmentation, and this is what Paulish's book is about. Grab a copy of "Architecture-Centric Software Project Management" right away if you are looking for simple ways to be a effective software project manager and improve your project's performance.

A bridge between Project Management and SW Architecture

This is the book I have been waiting for. It builds a bridge between Project Management and Software Architecture, the two most important aspects that contribute to the success of a software project. Usually Project Manager's view on a solution is different from Architect's and vise versa. Architecture-Centric Project Management helps the Project Manager to think from Software Architecture perspective and plan accordingly. I also liked the section about managing international development. We face the same issues mentioned in the book while dealing with global development. This book along with Applied Software Architecture by Hofmeister et al. is a good recipe for a successful software project.