Making Software Development Visible: Effective Project Control (Wiley Series in Software Engineering Practice)

By David P. Youll

Having been involved in software development for many years, the author wanted to provide visibility for software projects as the main idea in writing this work. If visibility could be provided to software project managers, then the understanding of the process of software development would improve, and control would be better. The real problem is that most managers miss ''obvious'' problems because they do not look properly. Use of the more than 80 figures in this book enables adequate visibility to be attained and new viewpoints to be developed.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471927465
• ISBN13: 9780471927464
• Release Date: December 1990
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Virtually timeless

After recently reading "Change-Based Test Management" (ISBN 0971786127) I had a nagging feeling that some of the concepts seemed familiar. After racking my memory, I pulled this book off my shelf, dusted it off and read it again after owning it for nearly 14 years. The authors of "Change-Based Test Management" may or may not have read this book, but their approach is similar (but not quite the same) as what is presented in this book's Chapter 4, which is devoted to product quality. In addition to the chapter on product quality giving an approach that is still viable today, this book wraps that aspect of a software development project into a much larger process that links together today's best practices in application delivery and project management.The first chapter introduces the basic concepts that will be given in subsequent chapters, which come at a brisk rate starting with Chapter 2, which covers estimating, work breakdown structures, and quality target attainment planning. The next chapter gives techniques for project control. I was a bit disappointed that earned value was not included, but since that technique was mainly within the domain of US DoD and their contractors when this book was written the oversight is understandable. The techniques for resource and budget management given in this chapter are exceptionally effective in their own right.Chapter 4 - the material that originally jogged my memory - contains advice that is as fresh today as it was when this book was written. It is driven by metrics, and more importantly, is based on the same change- and validation-based concepts as the newer book cited above. Chapters 5-7 are my favorites because they address support, process visibility and maintenance. Rare is the book that gives more than a page or two to support and maintenance. This book covers these important topics in great detail in two chapters. The final chapter is about implementing project visibility (control) mechanisms, with excellent material on metrics, replanning, costs, and end-of-project reviews.One nice thing about out-of-print books that are still valuable is you can usually obtain them at bargain prices. This one is a wise investment if you manage software development projects and want a quality-driven approach to project control.