Great Software Debates

Description:

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:

• The danger of following trends and becoming a ‘software lemming’
• Is software development art or engineering?
• How to survive management mistakes
• The bizarre world of software estimation
• How to succeed as software entrepreneur
• How to resolve incompatible schedules and requirements

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.

 

 

Table of Contents:

Preface.

About the Author.

Section I: The Software Industry.

Essay 1. Software Lemmings.

Essay 2. Recovering from Method Abuse.

Essay 3. Tomorrow's Blacksmiths.

Essay 4. On Software Development Strategies, Politics, and Religion.

Essay 5. Art or Engineering, One More Time.

Essay 6. Why Build Software?

Essay 7. It Feels Like Déjà Vu All Over Again.

Essay 8. Eras of Software Engineering Technology Transfer.

Essay 9. Fifteen Principles of Software Engineering.

Essay 10. Thoughts on Software Estimation.

Section II: Management.

Essay 11. Trial By Firing: Saga of a Rookie Manager.

Essay 12. Can You Survive Your Management Mistakes?

Essay 13. Should He Stay or Should He Go? Advice for a Beleaguered Manager.

Essay 14. The Software Company Machine.

Essay 15. The Rise and Fall of a Software Startup.

Essay 16. Anatomy of a Software Startup.

Essay 17. Information for Decision Makers.

Essay 18. Some Tips for the  Would-Be Entrepreneur.

Essay 19. Some More Tips for the Would-Be Entrepreneur.

Section III: Requirements.

Essay 20. The Harmony in Rechoirments.

Essay 21. System Phenotypes.

Essay 22. The Missing Piece of Software Development.

Essay 23. Object-Oriented Analysis to Object-Oriented design: An Easy Transition?

Essay 24. Achieving Quality in Software Requirements.

Essay 25. Requirements Management Made Easy.

Essay 26. Elicitation: How do the Experts Do It?

Essay 27. Requirements Are But a Snapshot in Time.

Section IV: Software Research and Academe.

Essay 28. Between Scylla and Charybdis.

Essay 29. Why Industry Often Says 'No Thanks' to Research.

Essay 30. Requirements Researchers: Do We Practice What We Peach?

Essay 31. From the Wonderland to the Real Problem.

Essay 32. Practitioner, Heal Thyself.

Section V: Life and Software.

Essay 33. Words of Wisdom.

Essay 34. More Words of Wisdom.

Essay 35. Product Not Process: A Parable.

Essay 36. Making a Mark on the World.

Essay 37. Rewards of Taking the Path Less Traveled.

Essay 38. Miscellaneous Thoughts on Evolution.

Section VI: The Future.

Index.

描述：

這位業界最直言不諱且富有洞察力的評論家解釋了軟體業界的真實運作方式。

在《大軟體辯論》中，Al Davis分享了他對理論與商業現實之間差異的瞭解，並鼓勵您以能幫助您在他人失敗的地方取得成功的方式來質疑和思考軟體工程。

Davis毫不畏懼地在簡短而引人思考的文章中揭示了關於流程改進、生產力、軟體品質、度量、敏捷開發、需求文件、建模、軟體行銷和銷售、經驗主義、初創融資、軟體研究、需求分類、軟體估算和創業精神的真相。他將讓您思考以下問題：

• 追隨潮流並成為「軟體小白鼠」的危險
  


• 軟體開發是藝術還是工程？
  


• 如何應對管理錯誤
  


• 軟體估算的奇異世界
  


• 如何成功成為軟體企業家
  


• 如何解決不相容的進度和需求

如果您在軟體業界中不知道該往哪個方向發展，《大軟體辯論》提供了有價值且富有洞察力的建議。無論您是軟體開發人員、軟體經理、軟體高管、企業家、需求撰寫人員、架構師、設計師還是測試人員，您都不會缺乏明智且可接受的建議。

目錄：

前言。

關於作者。

第一部分：軟體業界。

文章1. 軟體小白鼠。

文章2. 從方法濫用中恢復。

文章3. 明日的鐵匠。

文章4. 關於軟體開發策略、政治和宗教。

文章5. 藝術還是工程，再談一次。

文章6. 為什麼要建造軟體？

文章7. 這感覺就像是一次又一次的似曾相識。

文章8. 軟體工程技術轉移的時代。

文章9. 軟體工程的十五個原則。

文章10. 對軟體估算的思考。

第二部分：管理。

文章11. 經歷新手經理的考驗。

文章12. 您能否應對管理錯誤