Corporate and commercial software-development teams all want solutions for one important problem—how to get their high-pressure development schedules under control. In RAPID DEVELOPMENT, author Steve McConnell addresses that concern head-on with overall strategies, specific best practices, and valuable tips that help shrink and control development schedules and keep projects moving. Inside, you’ll find:

• A rapid-development strategy that can be applied to any project and the best practices to make that strategy work
• Candid discussions of great and not-so-great rapid-development practices—estimation, prototyping, forced overtime, motivation, teamwork, rapid-development languages, risk management, and many others
• A list of classic mistakes to avoid for rapid-development projects, including creeping requirements, shortchanged quality, and silver-bullet syndrome
• Case studies that vividly illustrate what can go wrong, what can go right, and how to tell which direction your project is going
• RAPID DEVELOPMENT is the real-world guide to more efficient applications development.

Equip yourself with SOFTWARE PROJECT SURVIVAL GUIDE. It's for everyone with a stake in the outcome of a development project--and especially for those without formal software project management training. That includes top managers, executives, clients, investors, end-user representatives, project managers, and technical leads.

Here you'll find guidance from the acclaimed author of the classics CODE COMPLETE and RAPID DEVELOPMENT. Steve McConnell draws on solid research and a career's worth of hard-won experience to map the surest path to your goal--what he calls "one specific approach to software development that works pretty well most of the time for most projects." Nineteen chapters in four sections cover the concepts and strategies you need for mastering the development process, including planning, design, management, quality assurance, testing, and archiving. For newcomers and seasoned project managers alike, SOFTWARE PROJECT SURVIVAL GUIDE draws on a vast store of techniques to create an elegantly simplified and reliable framework for project management success.

So don't worry about wandering among complex sets of project management techniques that require years to sort out and master. SOFTWARE PROJECT SURVIVAL GUIDE goes straight to the heart of the matter to help your projects succeed. And that makes it a required addition to every professional's bookshelf.

What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and seesaws have to do with computers? In CODE, they show us the ingenious ways we manipulate language and invent new means of communicating with each other. And through CODE, we see how this ingenuity and our very human compulsion to communicate have driven the technological innovations of the past two centuries.
Using everyday objects and familiar language systems such as Braille and Morse code, author Charles Petzold weaves an illuminating narrative for anyone who’s ever wondered about the secret inner life of computers and other smart machines.
It’s a cleverly illustrated and eminently comprehensible story—and along the way, you’ll discover you’ve gained a real context for understanding today’s world of PCs, digital media, and the Internet. No matter what your level of technical savvy, CODE will charm you—and perhaps even awaken the technophile within.

Keep black-hat hackers at bay with the tips and techniques in this entertaining, eye-opening book! Developers will learn how to padlock their applications throughout the entire development process—from designing secure applications to writing robust code that can withstand repeated attacks to testing applications for security flaws. Easily digested chapters reveal proven principles, strategies, and coding techniques. The authors—two battle-scarred veterans who have solved some of the industry’s toughest security problems—provide sample code in several languages. This edition includes updated information about threat modeling, designing a security process, international issues, file-system issues, adding privacy to applications, and performing security code reviews. It also includes enhanced coverage of buffer overruns, Microsoft .NET security, and Microsoft ActiveX development, plus practical checklists for developers, testers, and program managers.

The rules and practices for Scrum—a simple process for managing complex projects—are few, straightforward, and easy to learn. But Scrum’s simplicity itself—its lack of prescription—can be disarming, and new practitioners often find themselves reverting to old project management habits and tools and yielding lesser results. In this illuminating series of case studies, Scrum co-creator and evangelist Ken Schwaber identifies the real-world lessons—the successes and failures—culled from his years of experience coaching companies in agile project management. Through them, you’ll understand how to use Scrum to solve complex problems and drive better results—delivering more valuable software faster.
Gain the foundation in Scrum theory—and practice—you need to:

• Rein in even the most complex, unwieldy projects
• Effectively manage unknown or changing product requirements
• Simplify the chain of command with self-managing development teams
• Receive clearer specifications—and feedback—from customers
• Greatly reduce project planning time and required tools
• Build—and release—products in 30-day cycles so clients get deliverables earlier
• Avoid missteps by regularly inspecting, reporting on, and fine-tuning projects
• Support multiple teams working on a large-scale project from many geographic locations
• Maximize return on investment!

Widely considered one of the best practical guides to programming, Steve McConnell’s original CODE COMPLETE has been helping developers write better software for more than a decade. Now this classic book has been fully updated and revised with leading-edge practices—and hundreds of new code samples—illustrating the art and science of software construction. Capturing the body of knowledge available from research, academia, and everyday commercial practice, McConnell synthesizes the most effective techniques and must-know principles into clear, pragmatic guidance. No matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking—and help you build the highest quality code.
Discover the timeless techniques and strategies that help you:

• Design for minimum complexity and maximum creativity
• Reap the benefits of collaborative development
• Apply defensive programming techniques to reduce and flush out errors
• Exploit opportunities to refactor—or evolve—code, and do it safely
• Use construction practices that are right-weight for your project
• Debug problems quickly and effectively
• Resolve critical construction issues early and correctly
• Build quality into the beginning, middle, and end of your project

No matter how much instruction you’ve had on managing software requirements, there’s no substitute for experience. Too often, lessons about requirements engineering processes lack the no-nonsense guidance that supports real-world solutions. Complementing the best practices presented in his book, Software Requirements, Second Edition, requirements engineering authority Karl Wiegers tackles even more of the real issues head-on in this book. With straightforward, professional advice and practical solutions based on actual project experiences, this book answers many of the tough questions raised by industry professionals. From strategies for estimating and working with customers to the nuts and bolts of documenting requirements, this essential companion gives developers, analysts, and managers the cosmic truths that apply to virtually every software development project. Discover how to: • Make the business case for investing in better requirements practices • Generate estimates using three specific techniques • Conduct inquiries to elicit meaningful business and user requirements • Clearly document project scope • Implement use cases, scenarios, and user stories effectively • Improve inspections and peer reviews • Write requirements that avoid ambiguity

Often referred to as the “black art” because of its complexity and uncertainty, software estimation is not as difficult or puzzling as people think. In fact, generating accurate estimates is straightforward—once you understand the art of creating them. In his highly anticipated book, acclaimed author Steve McConnell unravels the mystery to successful software estimation—distilling academic information and real-world experience into a practical guide for working software professionals. Instead of arcane treatises and rigid modeling techniques, this guide highlights a proven set of procedures, understandable formulas, and heuristics that individuals and development teams can apply to their projects to help achieve estimation proficiency.
Discover how to:

• Estimate schedule and cost—or estimate the functionality that can be delivered within a given time frame
• Avoid common software estimation mistakes
• Learn estimation techniques for you, your team, and your organization * Estimate specific project activities—including development, management, and defect correction
• Apply estimation approaches to any type of project—small or large, agile or traditional
• Navigate the shark-infested political waters that surround project estimates

Learn proven, real-world techniques for specifying software requirements with this practical reference. It details 30 requirement “patterns” offering realistic examples for situation-specific guidance for building effective software requirements. Each pattern explains what a requirement needs to convey, offers potential questions to ask, points out potential pitfalls, suggests extra requirements, and other advice. This book also provides guidance on how to write other kinds of information that belong in a requirements specification, such as assumptions, a glossary, and document history and references, and how to structure a requirements specification.

A disturbing proportion of computer systems are judged to be inadequate; many are not even delivered; more are late or over budget. Studies consistently show one of the single biggest causes is poorly defined requirements: not properly defining what a system is for and what it’s supposed to do. Even a modest contribution to improving requirements offers the prospect of saving businesses part of a large sum of wasted investment. This guide emphasizes this important requirement need—determining what a software system needs to do before spending time on development. Expertly written, this book details solutions that have worked in the past, with guidance for modifying patterns to fit individual needs—giving developers the valuable advice they need for building effective software requirements

It’s time to extend the benefits of Scrum—greater agility, higher-quality products, and lower costs—from individual teams to your entire enterprise. However, with Scrum’s lack of prescribed rules, the friction of change can be challenging as people struggle to break from old project management habits. In this book, agile-process revolution leader Ken Schwaber takes you through change management—for your organizational and interpersonal processes—explaining how to successfully adopt Scrum across your entire organization.

A cofounder of Scrum, Ken draws from decades of experience, answering your questions through case studies of proven practices and processes. With them, you’ll learn how to adopt—and adapt—Scrum in the enterprise. And gain profound levels of transparency into your development processes.

Discover how to:

• Evaluate the benefits of adopting Scrum in any size organization
• Initiate an enterprise transition project
• Implement a single, prioritized Product Backlog
• Organize effective Scrum teams using a top-down approach
• Adapt and apply solutions for integrating engineering practices across multiple teams
• Shorten release times by managing high-value increments
• Refine your Scrum practices and help reduce the length of Sprints

Zero in on key project-initiation tasks—and build a solid foundation for successful software development. In this concise guide, critically-acclaimed author Karl E. Wiegers fills a void in project management literature by focusing on the activities that are essential—but often overlooked—for launching any project. Drawing on his extensive experience, Karl shares lessons learned, proven practices, and tools for getting your project off to the right start—and steering it to ultimate success.

Lay a foundation for project success—discover how to:

• Effectively charter a project
• Define meaningful criteria for project success and product releases
• Negotiate achievable commitments for project teams and stakeholders
• Identify and document potential barriers to success—and manage project risks
• Apply the Wideband Delphi method for more accurate estimation
• Measure project performance and avoid common metrics traps
• Systematically apply lessons learned to future projects
  
  
  Companion Web site includes:
  
  
  • Worksheets from inside the book
  • Project document templates
  • Resources for project initiation and process improvement

Learn best practices for software development project management—and lead your teams and projects to success. Dr. Lawrence Peters is an industry-recognized expert with decades of experience conducting research and leading real-world software projects. Beyond getting the best developers, equipment, budget, and timeline possible—Peters concludes that no factor is more critical to project success than the manager’s role. Drawing on proven practices from allied industries such as business, psychology, accounting, and law, he describes a broader project-management methodology—with principles that software managers can readily adapt to help increase their own effectiveness and the productivity of their teams. Unlike other books on the topic, this book focuses squarely on the manager—and shows how to get results without adopting philosophies from Genghis Khan or Machiavelli. (There is mention of Godzilla, however.) Packed with real-world examples and pragmatic advice, this book shows any software development manager—new or experienced—how to lead teams in delivering the right results for their business.

Dismantle the overwhelming complexity in your IT projects with strategies and real-world examples from a leading expert on enterprise architecture. This guide describes best practices for creating an efficient IT organization that consistently delivers on time, on budget, and in line with business needs.

IT systems have become too complex—and too expensive. Complexity can create delays, cost overruns, and outcomes that do not meet business requirements. The resulting losses can impact your entire company. This guide demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, complex problems demand simple solutions. The author believes that 50 percent of the complexity of a typical IT project can and should be eliminated—and he shows you how to do it.

You’ll learn a model for understanding complexity, the three tenets of complexity control, and how to apply specific techniques such as checking architectures for validity. Find out how the author’s methodology could have saved a real-world IT project that went off track, and ways to implement his solutions in a variety of situations.

Agile development processes foster better collaboration, innovation, and results. So why limit their use to software projects—when you can transform your entire business?

Written by agile-mentoring expert Jochen Krebs, this book illuminates the opportunities—and rewards—of applying agile processes to your overall IT portfolio.

Whether project manager, business analyst, or executive—you’ll understand the business drivers behind agile portfolio management. And learn best practices for optimizing results.

Use agile processes to align IT and business strategy

• Adapt and extend core agile processes
• Orchestrate the collaboration between IT and business vision
• Eliminate wish-list driven requirements, and manage expectations instead
• Optimize the balance of projects, resources, and assets in your portfolio
• Use metrics to communicate project status, quality, even team morale
• Create a portfolio strategy consistent with the goals of the organization
• Achieve organizational and process transparency
• Manage your business with agility—and help maximize the returns!

It may surprise you to learn that Microsoft employs as many software testers as developers. Less surprising is the emphasis the company places on the testing discipline—and its role in managing quality across a diverse, 150+ product portfolio.

This book—written by three of Microsoft’s most prominent test professionals—shares the best practices, tools, and systems used by the company’s 9,000-strong corps of testers. Learn how your colleagues at Microsoft design and manage testing, their approach to training and career development, and what challenges they see ahead. Most important, you’ll get practical insights you can apply for better results in your organization.

Discover how to:

• Design effective tests and run them throughout the product lifecycle
• Minimize cost and risk with functional tests, and know when to apply structural techniques
• Measure code complexity to identify bugs and potential maintenance issues
• Use models to generate test cases, surface unexpected application behavior, and manage risk
• Know when to employ automated tests, design them for long-term use, and plug into an automation infrastructure
• Review the hallmarks of great testers—and the tools they use to run tests, probe systems, and track progress efficiently
• Explore the challenges of testing services vs. shrink-wrapped software

Get best-in-class engineering practices to help you write more-robust, bug-free code. Two Microsoft .NET development experts share real-world examples and proven methods for optimizing the software development life cycle—from avoiding costly programming pitfalls to making your development team more efficient. Managed code developers at all levels will find design, prototyping, implementation, debugging, and testing tips to boost the quality of their code—today.

Optimize each stage of the development process—from design to testing—and produce higher-quality applications.

• Use metaprogramming to reduce code complexity, while increasing flexibility and maintainability
• Treat performance as a feature—and manage it throughout the development life cycle
• Apply best practices for application scalability
• Employ preventative security measures to ward off malicious attacks
• Practice defensive programming to catch bugs before run time
• Incorporate automated builds, code analysis, and testing into the daily engineering process
• Implement better source-control management and check-in procedures
• Establish a quality-driven, milestone-based project rhythm—and improve your results!

Get the brutal truth about coding, testing, and project management—from a Microsoft insider who tells it like it is. I. M. Wright's deliberately provocative column "Hard Code" has been sparking debate amongst thousands of engineers at Microsoft for years. And now (despite our better instincts), we're making his opinions available to everyone.

In this collection of over 80 columns, Eric Brechner's alter ego pulls no punches with his candid commentary and best practice solutions to the issues that irk him the most. He dissects the development process, examines tough team issues, and critiques how the software business is run, with the added touch of clever humor and sardonic wit. His ideas aren't always popular (not that he cares), but they do stimulate discussion and imagination needed to drive software excellence.

Get the unvarnished truth on how to:

• Improve software quality and value—from design to security
• Realistically manage project schedules, risks, and specs
• Trim the fat from common development inefficiencies
• Apply process improvement methods—without being an inflexible fanatic
• Drive your own successful, satisfying career
• Don't be a dictator—develop and manage a thriving team!

Companion Web site includes:

• Agile process documents
• Checklists, templates, and other resources

Why is it so difficult to change organizations? What does it really take to make “process improvement” yield measurable results? For more than 30 years, Donald Riefer has been guiding software teams through the technical, organizational, and people issues that must be managed in order to make meaningful process changes—and better products. This practical guide draws from his extensive experience, featuring 11 case studies spanning the public and private sectors and even academia. Each case study illuminates the original conditions; describes options and recommendations; details reactions, outcomes, and lessons learned; and provides essential references and resources.

• Eleven case studies provide insightful, empirical data from real-world organizations
• Provides a broad view across organizational settings and factors, such as personnel, and technical environments, including cloud, Agile, and open source options
• Illuminates the hard-won lessons, tradeoffs, and impacts—with advice on how to engineer successful, sustainable changes yourself

Apply best practices for capturing, analyzing, and implementing software requirements through visual models—and deliver better results for your business. The authors—experts in eliciting and visualizing requirements—walk you through a simple but comprehensive language of visual models that has been used on hundreds of real-world, large-scale projects. Build your fluency with core concepts—and gain essential, scenario-based context and implementation advice—as you progress through each chapter.

• Transcend the limitations of text-based requirements data using visual models that more rigorously identify, capture, and validate requirements
• Get real-world guidance on best ways to use visual models—how and when, and ways to combine them for best project outcomes
• Practice the book’s concepts as you work through chapters
• Change your focus from writing a good requirement to ensuring a complete system

Now in its third edition, this classic guide to software requirements engineering has been fully updated with new topics, examples, and guidance. Two leaders in the requirements community have teamed up to deliver a contemporary set of practices covering the full range of requirements development and management activities on software projects.

• Describes practical, effective, field-tested techniques for managing the requirements engineering process from end to end.
• Provides examples demonstrating how requirements "good practices" can lead to fewer change requests, higher customer satisfaction, and lower development costs.
• Fully updated with contemporary examples and many new practices and techniques.
• Describes how to apply effective requirements practices to agile projects and numerous other special project situations.
• Targeted to business analysts, developers, project managers, and other software project stakeholders who have a general understanding of the software development process.
• Shares the insights gleaned from the authors’ extensive experience delivering hundreds of software-requirements training courses, presentations, and webinars.

New chapters are included on specifying data requirements, writing high-quality functional requirements, and requirements reuse. Considerable depth has been added on business requirements, elicitation techniques, and nonfunctional requirements. In addition, new chapters recommend effective requirements practices for various special project situations, including enhancement and replacement, packaged solutions, outsourced, business process automation, analytics and reporting, and embedded and other real-time systems projects.