from The Rational Edge: Read Chapter 3 from a new book that describes software and systems development more in terms of an economics discipline than an engineering discipline. The authors draw on decades of experience working with customers to improve results in software development projects.
Title: The Economics of Iterative Software Development: Steering Toward Better Business Results
Authors: Walker Royce, Kurt Bittner, and Mike Perrow
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Pub Date: March, 2009
ISBN 0-321-50935-8
Pages: 192
Effective software development is no longer merely an IT concern: today, it is crucial to the entire enterprise. However, most business people are not ready to make informed decisions about software initiatives. The Economics of Iterative Software Development: Steering Toward Better Business Results will prepare them. Drawing on decades of software development and business experience, the authors demonstrate how to utilize practical planning and steering techniques to manage software projects for maximum return on investments made in people, tools, and processes.
The authors begin by dispelling widespread myths about software costs, explaining why traditional, "engineering-based" software management introduces unacceptable inefficiencies in today's development environments. Next, they show business and technical managers how to combine the principles of economics and iterative development to achieve optimal results with limited resources. Using their techniques, readers will learn how to build systems that enable maximum business innovation and process improvement -- and implement software processes that allow them to do so consistently.
Highlights include:
How to repeatedly quantify the value a project is delivering and quickly adjust course as needed
How to reduce software project size, complexity, and other "project killers"
How to identify and eliminate software development processes that don't work
How to improve development processes, reduce rework, mitigate risk, and identify inefficiencies
How to create more proficient teams by improving individual skills, team interactions, and organizational capability
Where to use integrated, automated tools to improve effectiveness
What to measure, and when: specific metrics for project inception, elaboration, construction, and transition
The Economics of Iterative Software Development: Steering Toward Better Business Results will help both business and technical managers make better decisions throughout the software development process -- and it will help team and project leaders keep any project or initiative on track, so they can deliver more value faster.
This chapter is an excerpt from The Economics of Iterative Software Development: Steering Toward Better Business Results, by Walker Royce, Kurt Bittner, and Mike Perrow. ISBN 0-321-50935-8, Copyright 2009 by Addison-Wesley Professional. For more info, please visit www.informit.com.
Title: The Economics of Iterative Software Development: Steering Toward Better Business Results
