Software project secrets: Why software projects fail

Software Project Secrets: Why Software Projects Fail

Volumn , Issue , 2005, Pages 1-166

  Stepanek, George ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84892200778     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4302-0055-0     Document Type: Book

References (53)

1. Anderson, David. Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results. Prentice Hall PTR, 2004. Anderson applies a new accounting technique to measuring the value of software development work. The aim is to achieve business goals more efficiently. He shows how the theory can be applied to agile methodologies such as Scrum, Extreme Programming, and Feature-Driven Development.
2. Anthes, Gary. ROI Guide: Payback Period. Computerworld, 17 February 2003. http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/roi/story/0, 10801, 78529, 00.html. A clear explanation of the term "payback period"
3. Auer, Ken and Roy Miller. Extreme Programming Applied: Playing to Win. Addison-Wesley, 2002. One of a raft of very similar books that have been published about XP. This one focuses on getting started with the various techniques, and is a good introduction.
4. Bell, Stephen. Justice ministry begins fixing error-ridden Courts system. Computerworld, 27 April 2004. http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/ 7256ECB173FBC19DCC256E81007D3CAF. A postmortem of a typical software project that "showed many of the classic shortcomings identified in delayed, over-budget and abandoned projects"
5. Boehm, Barry. Software Engineering Economics. Prentice Hall PTR, 1981. An overview of microeconomics as applied to software development. A classic in its time, this book is now starting to show its age. Still well worth reading, though.
6. Brooks, Frederick. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, 20th Anniversary Edition. Addison-Wesley, 1995. The classic book on the human elements of software engineering.
7. Cade, Mark and Simon Roberts. Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for J2EE Technology Study Guide. Prentice Hall PTR, 2002. A handy overview of enterprise-level software architecture concepts, particularly for J2EE.
8. Cockburn, Alistair. Characterizing People as Non-Linear, First-Order Components in Software Development. Humans and Technology, 1999. http://alistair.cockburn. us/crystal/articles/cpanfocisd/ characterizingpeopleasnonlinear.html. Alistair Cockburn has had a number of brilliant insights into the way people actually develop software. This paper is a great introduction into some of those ideas.
9. -. Agile Software Development. Addison-Wesley, 2002. A survey of the concepts and techniques behind agile software development. Useful tools to build your own methodology. More information is available at http://alistair. cockburn.us.
10. -. Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams. Addison-Wesley, 2004. This book is the best description of a workable small-team methodology that I've yet seen. I've been working from an unpublished draft, and I can't wait to see it in print.
11. - and Laurie Williams. The Costs and Benefits of Pair Programming. Humans and Technology, 2000. http://alistair.cockburn. us/crystal/articles/ppcb/ pairprogrammingcostbene.html. Research that proves the value of pair programming: use it to convince the skeptics in your organization.
12. Cooney, Matthew. Agile processes keep customers happy. ComputerWeekly, 13 May 2004. http://www.computerweekly.com/Article130531.htm. Yes, agile development techniques do work. This article summarizes recent research on the successful adoption of agile methodologies, and includes an overview of XP, DSDM, and RUP.
13. Firesmith, Donald and Brian Henderson-Sellers. The OPEN Process Framework: An Introduction. Addison-Wesley, 2001. This looks like a methodology designed by a committee. It aims to be all things to all people, but ends up being of little value to anyone. Not recommended.
14. Fowler, Martin. The New Methodology. ThoughtWorks, 2003. http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html. An excellent introduction to the agile movement, this article includes a broad survey of the existing agile methodologies.
15. -. Using an Agile Software Process with Offshore Development. ThoughtWorks, 2004. http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/agileOffshore.html. Martin Fowler has made offshore development work in an agile way, and in this article he describes his approach and his experiences.
16. Gamma, Erich, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides. Design Patterns. Addison-Wesley, 1995. This is the seminal book that revolutionized object-oriented programming. It uses a formal approach to explain an abstract subject, and many people regard it as a difficult book. The fact that the examples are either in C++ or Smalltalk-which are both obsolete programming languages-doesn't help. It's worth the effort, though.
17. Gilb, Tom. Principles of Software Engineering Management. Addison-Wesley, 1989. Tom Gilb's classic book describes the principles behind Evolutionary Project Management (also known as EPM or Evo), which was an early agile methodology that became quite influential even though its uptake was limited.
18. Gleik, James. Chasing Bugs in the Electronic Village. New York Times Magazine, 4 August 1992. http://www.around.com/bugs.html. In January 1990 James Gleik bought one of the first copies of Microsoft's Word for Windows. What he didn't know was that he had just become an unwilling beta tester for a very buggy piece of software. A frustrating- and funny-saga ensues.
19. Hayes, Frank. Big IT Doomed. Computerworld, 7 June 2004. http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/project/story/0, 10801, 93641, 00.html. A perfect case study of how agile development techniques helped a huge software project to succeed, after another huge project failed to accomplish the same task.
20. Highsmith, Jim. Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems. Dorset House Publishing Company, 1999. A seminal agile methodology from one of the most active thought leaders in the field. It has a sound theoretical basis, but doesn't include as extensive a range of best practices as some of the newer methodologies. More information is available at http://www.adaptivesd.com.
21. -. Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products. Addison-Wesley, 2004. Highsmith addresses many of the same issues as Software Project Secrets, but instead of adapting existing project management standards, he creates an innovative five-phase project management methodology. It is applicable to more than just software development, even though it uses many ideas from the agile methodologies.
22. Jacobson, Ivar, Grady Booch, and James Rumbaugh. The Unified Software Development Process. Addison-Wesley, 1999. The original book about the Unified Process, this covers the subject in exhaustive detail. The material is important, but the presentation is dry and overly academic. Try Kruchten's [2000] book first.
23. Jones, Caspers. Patterns of large software systems: Failure and success. Computer, vol. 28, no. 3, March 1995. An oft-cited study that shows the extent to which requirements arrive after development begins.
24. Koskinen, Jussi. Software Maintenance Costs. Information Technology Research Institute, University of Jyväskylä, 2004. http://www.cs.jyu.fi/~koskinen/smcosts.htm. A useful overview of the research on this subject.
25. Kruchten, Philippe. The Rational Unified Process, An Introduction, Second Edition. Addison-Wesley, 2000. It can be a little dry at times, but this book does present a concise and well-organized overview of RUP
26. -. Agility with RUP. Cutter IT Journal, vol. 14, no. 12, December 2001. This article addresses many of the criticisms that have been leveled at RUP by showing how RUP can be used in an agile way. There's a lot of promotion here, but also some valuable guidance on how to adapt RUP for specific projects.
27. Larman, Craig. Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and the Unified Process, Second Edition. Prentice Hall PTR, 2002. More than just an introductory guide to object-oriented programming, this book explains how to use RUP in an agile, effective and sensible way. Read this before, or instead of, Design Patterns [Gamma et al. 1995].
28. -. Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide. Addison-Wesley, 2004. Larman tries to convince managers to use agile methodologies in their software development projects by citing statistically significant research and a variety of case studies. He describes and compares Scrum, Extreme Programming, the Unified Process, and Evo in more detail than Software Project Secrets. This is the most compelling argument yet for agile development. Buy a copy for your manager.
29. -, Philippe Kruchten, and Kurt Bittner. How to Fail with the Rational Unified Process: Seven Steps to Pain and Suffering. Valtech Technologies & Rational Software, 2001. http://www.agilealliance.com/articles/reviews/Larman1/ articles/How-to-Fail-with-the-RUP-Kruchten-and-Larman.pdf. A humorous but effective essay that highlights the classic mistakes that people make in applying RUP, and shows how to avoid them.
30. McBreen, Pete. Pretending to Be Agile. informIT, 15 March 2002. http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=25913. A succinct and pertinent description of what agile development really means.
31. McConnell, Steve. Code Complete, Second Edition. Microsoft Press, 2004. Every developer should read this book, and their managers should at least skim it. It's a comprehensive guide to the techniques you need to make your code robust, readable, and error-free. There's extensive discussion about the issues behind the practices, and about software development in general.
32. -. Rapid Development. Microsoft Press, 1996. A fantastic smorgasbord of ways to make your software project run more smoothly. Steve McConnell does his research, writes very readably, and takes the time to explain the background to the issues.
33. Microsoft. Microsoft Solutions Framework Version 3.0 Overview White Paper. Microsoft, 2003. MSF is an alternative to the PMBOK that's specifically designed for software development. I like the approach, and particularly the way that project management responsibilities are shared around the team. More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/msf.
34. Miller, Roy. Managing Software for Growth: Without Fear, Control, and the Manufacturing Mindset. Addison-Wesley, 2003. http://www.awprofessional.com/ content/images/0321117433/samplechapter/millerch01.pdf. Miller attributes software development failure to the "manufacturing mindset." His argument is a little different from mine, but it reaches much the same conclusions. It's interesting to compare this work to the Poppendiecks' [2003].
35. Palmer, Stephen and John Felsing. A Practical Guide to Feature-Driven Development. Prentice Hall PTR, 2002. This methodology takes the middle ground between lightweight processes like XP and heavyweight processes like RUP It's best for mid-range projects, but the concept itself is powerful, and can be useful in the context of any agile project. More information is available at http://www.featuredrivendevelopment.com.
36. Poppendieck, Mary and Tom. Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers. Addison-Wesley, 2003. An intriguing new agile methodology that's based on the classic Lean Production principles from Toyota-also known as Just-In-Time manufacturing-which have revolutionized the industry. More information is available at http://www.poppendieck.com. PMI-see Project Management Institute.
37. Project Management Institute. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) - 2000 Edition. Project Management Institute, 2000. A surprisingly readable guide to the discipline, although it's clearly intended as a reference work. Beginners should consult an introductory workbook instead. More information is available at http://www.pmi.org.
38. -. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), Third Edition (2004), Exposure Draft. Project Management Institute, 2004. More text and diagrams than the previous edition; I found this one to be clearer and less dogmatic. Sadly, this is no longer available for free download.
39. Raymond, Eric. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Thyrsus Enterprises, 2000a. http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/. This isn't just the story of Raymond's Fetchmail project, but also a profound philosophical exploration of open source development, how it works, and why people do it. Don't be put off by the level of technical detail.
40. -. The Magic Cauldron. Thyrsus Enterprises, 2000b. http://www.catb.org/ ~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/magic-cauldron/. An intriguing analysis of the economics of software development. Raymond argues that there's much to be gained from sharing development expertise and costs by making many kinds of software open source.
41. Read, Robert. How to Be a Programmer: A Short, Comprehensive, and Personal Survey. Samizdat Press, 2003. http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/. A short and snappy guide to the social, personal, and general technical skills that are required to program well. A great introduction to the world of software development.
42. Redmill, Felix. Software Projects: Evolutionary vs. Big-Bang Delivery. John Wiley & Sons, 1997. Redmill wrote about agile concepts before the term "agile" was even coined. This book didn't have a big impact at the time, but it pioneered many of the ideas that have subsequently been popularized by the agile methodologies. Interestingly, it presents these ideas in the context of software project management.
43. Royce, Walker. Software Project Management: A Unified Framework. Addison-Wesley, 1998. Royce has created a new project management methodology for software development by extending the Unified Process. His book includes some sensible ideas, but it is beginning to seem a little dated.
44. Schwaber, Ken. Agile Project Management with Scrum. Microsoft Press, 2004. This book explains how to apply Scrums principles to software project management. It consists of case studies that are based on Schwaber s experience of helping teams implement Scrum.
45. - and Mike Beedle. Agile Software Development with SCRUM. Prentice Hall, 2001. A short and readable book that describes a simple and highly effective software development process. It focuses more on management than some of the other methodologies. It's increasingly widely used, and is gaining quite a reputation. More information is available at http://www.controlchaos.com.
46. Standish Group, The Extreme CHAOS. The Standish Group, 2001. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample-research/PDFpages/extreme-chaos.pdf. An update to the famous 1994 report that's universally referenced to show just how bad the situation is in software development.
47. Stapleton, Jennifer and DSDM Consortium. DSDM: Business Focused Development, Second Edition. Addison-Wesley, 2003. The DSDM Consortium includes numerous British companies, universities, and government departments, and offers extensive resources, training, and certification. Unlike most of the other methodologies, this is not just a one-man band. More information is available at http://www.dsdm.org.
48. Thomsett, Rob. Radical Project Management. Prentice Hall PTR, 2002. This book describes Extreme Project Management (XPM) as "the first radically new approach to project management in decades, designed from the ground up for today's high-speed, fast-changing projects." Thomsett draws a firm distinction between project management and "technical management"-the software development methodology-but he fails to explain how the two should work together.
49. Williams, Sam. When offshoring goes bad. Salon.com, 6 April 2004. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/04/06/offshoring-bad/index.html. Offshore outsourcing isn't risk free, and there can be a real downside. This article deftly analyzes the risks, rewards, and potential of an increasingly popular trend.
50. Wysocki, Robert and Rudd McGary. Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, Third Edition. Wiley Publishing, 2003. This is a good, general introduction to the subject.
51. Yager, Tom. BizTalk Server brings everybody into the process. InfoWorld, 23 April 2004. http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/23/17TCbiztalk-1.html. A general overview of BizTalk Server 2004.
52. Yourdon, Edward. Death March, Second Edition. Prentice Hall PTR, 2004a. This book tells you what to do when good projects go bad, or bad projects get worse. Readable and valuable, it might just save your sanity and your career. A classic.
53. -. Outsource: Competing in the Global Productivity Race. Prentice Hall PTR, 2004b. A sequel to the prophetic Decline and Fall of the American Programmer, this book analyzes the recent interest in the offshore outsourcing of software development.