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Great Software Debates
Alan M. Davis (Author)
9780471675235, Wiley
Hardback, published 2 November 2004
288 pages
24 x 16.4 x 2.5 cm, 0.606 kg
"'Great Software Debates' is a gift of Alan Davis' experience, insight, wisdom, and humor. The essays' value is greatly increased by being collected in one place." (IEEE Software, November/December 2006) "...hardly a week has gone by that I have not referenced it or recommended it to co-workers and friends...a concentrated treasure of suggestions, explanations, and principles." (Ubiquity, October 19, 2005) "…expect[s] that the reader will think about and react to the content in some substantive way." (Software Quality Professional, March 2005) "This book deserves a place on any software engineer's bookshelf…it will make you keep your brain in gear, an essential quality for software engineers…" (Computing Reviews.com, March 11, 2005) "The author shares what he has learned about the difference between business theory and reality, encouraging readers to think about software engineering in ways that will help them succeed where others fail." (Computer Magazine, November 2004)
The industry’s most outspoken and insightful critic explains how the software industry REALLY works. In Great Software Debates, Al Davis, shares what he has learned about the difference between the theory and the realities of business and encourages you to question and think about software engineering in ways that will help you succeed where others fail. In short, provocative essays, Davis fearlessly reveals the truth about process improvement, productivity, software quality, metrics, agile development, requirements documentation, modeling, software marketing and sales, empiricism, start-up financing, software research, requirements triage, software estimation, and entrepreneurship. He will get you thinking about: If you are in the software industry and do not know which way to turn, Great Software Debates provides valuable and insightful advice. Whether you are a software developer, software manager, software executive, entrepreneur, requirements writer, architect, designer, or tester, you will find no shortage of sound, palatable advice.
Preface xi Section I: The Software Industry 1 Essay 1. Software Lemmings 3 Section II: Management 63 Essay 11. Trial By Firing: Saga of a Rookie Manager 65 Section III: Requirements 113 Essay 20. The Harmony in Rechoirments 115 Section IV: Software Research and Academe 185 Essay 28. Between Scylla and Charybdis 187 Section V: Life and Software 219 Essay 33. Words of Wisdom 221 Section VI: The Future 249 Index 255
About the Author xv
Essay 2. Recovering from Method Abuse 11
Essay 3. Tomorrow's Blacksmiths 15
Essay 4. On Software Development Strategies, Politics, and Religion 17
Essay 5. Art or Engineering, One More Time 27
Essay 6. Why Build Software? 31
Essay 7. It Feels Like Déjà Vu All Over Again 35
Essay 8. Eras of Software Engineering Technology Transfer 37
Essay 9. Fifteen Principles of Software Engineering 41
Essay 10. Thoughts on Software Estimation 49
Essay 12. Can You Survive Your Management Mistakes? 69
Essay 13. Should He Stay or Should He Go? Advice for a Beleaguered Manager 73
Essay 14. The Software Company Machine 77
Essay 15. The Rise and Fall of a Software Startup 81
Essay 16. Anatomy of a Software Startup 99
Essay 17. Information for Decision Makers 107
Essay 18. Some Tips for the Would-Be Entrepreneur 109
Essay 19. Some More Tips for the Would-Be Entrepreneur 111
Essay 21. System Phenotypes 119
Essay 22. The Missing Piece of Software Development 125
Essay 23. Object-Oriented Analysis to Object-Oriented Design: An Easy Transition? 129
Essay 24. Achieving Quality in Software Requirements 143
Essay 25. Requirements Management Made Easy 155
Essay 26. Elicitation: How Do the Experts Do It? 163
Essay 27. Requirements Are But a Snapshot in Time 179
Essay 29. Why Industry Often Says 'No Thanks' to Research 191
Essay 30. Requirements Researchers: Do We Practice What We Preach? 199
Essay 31. From Wonderland to the Real Problem 207
Essay 32. Practitioner, Heal Thyself 215
Essay 34. More Words of Wisdom 225
Essay 35. Product Not Process: A Parable 229
Essay 36. Making a Mark on the World 235
Essay 37. Rewards of Taking the Path Less Traveled 239
Essay 38. Miscellaneous Thoughts on Evolution 245
Subject Areas: Electronics & communications engineering [TJ]
