"Make measurable what is not yet so" was Galileo's challenge to the emerging practitioners of science in his day. When it comes to software development, the ability to measure aspects of the development process is vital to improving the quality of the software produced. The trick, as George Spencer suggests in this month's cover story, is to motivate IT leaders toward making decisions that are rational, sharable, and visible across the entire IT organization. Read how a successful consultant engages with decision makers to put them on a path to improvement. Also, we conclude our three-part series on "lean" software development, consider the reasons why software is such hard work, and explore the Ruby on Rails framework for Web-based development.
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Cover story:The art and science of IT enablement, by George Spencer
Read how software consultants can apply an objective, measurable method to the process of improving the organizational culture of a business. By analyzing several factors, including motivation, fiduciary visibility, and strategic alignment, the author shows how positive change can be effected.
Best practices for lean development governance -- Part III: Roles and policies, by Scott W. Ambler and Per Kroll
The third in a series of articles covering IBM Rational's recommended approach to governing modern software development efforts, this article presents the roles and responsibilities, as well as the policies and standards to be adopted in lean software development governance.
Ready for IBM Rational software Comes to You Webinar Series
Ready for IBM Rational software Comes to You is a webinar series sponsored by the Rational user group organization. The series is designed to expose you to a cross section of value-added software solutions from Rational Business Partners to extend your Rational software implementations. Rich with live demos, these webinars show you first-hand how partner offerings integrate and enhance the features and functions of the Rational Software Delivery Platform. Take a look at the list, and register now.
Improving IT Governance, Service Visibility, and Risk Management
By working with IBM, businesses can implement a policy-driven approach to governance and risk management which combines best practices, optimized processes, and industry-leading solutions to manage risks, improve service visibility, and enhance the overall business outcome.
What makes software so hard?, by Tommy Lennhamn
Compared to traditional engineering, software engineering presents unique challenges to the practitioner, who cannot rely on physical first principles and hard science to develop reliable, repeatable practices. Those practices must be developed through experience, not through science. This article explores the reasons why.
The role of logical decomposition in system architecture, by Murray Cantor
In the case of software systems, complexity may be measured in terms of the number of paths activity may follow to arrive at a given state. The more possible paths, the more complex the system. Read how Murray Cantor develops this thought in the context of system architecture.
Software development gets jazzed IBM opens the jazz.net development platform to customers and partners to improve development collaboration and visibility. Check out this presentation on IBM TV!
Webcasts, tutorials, demos, and more: August-September 2007, by The Rational Marketing Team
These dynamic, Web-based tutorials, demos, and trial downloads will introduce new concepts or help refresh your knowledge base. Check out this extensive listing of IBM Rational Web-based resources.
Book review: Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications, reviewed by Gary Pollice
The growing popularity of Ruby and its open-source Web framework, Rails, has delivered dozens of books recently to our technical bookshelves. This review of one of the latest entries, by Patrick Lenz, suggests that this is one of the best introductory books available.
Book review: Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think, reviewed by Gary Pollice
A favorable review of a collection essays on the art and craft of programming, focused on designing elegant solutions to problems and expressing those solutions beautifully in the medium of program code.
Rails: The luxury line to professional Web sites, by Gary Pollice
This companion article to the July 2007 piece on the programming language Ruby describes Rails, a framework, built on top of Ruby for developing, maintaining, and deploying Web applications.
