Can you deliver 90% of your software on time, within budget, and fully meet the user's real requirements? Would you like to? Best-selling author Steve McConnell provides a compelling argument for turning software success into an everyday habit by advancing the software profession itself-at the individual, organizational, and industry levels. Expanding on the contents of his previous book After the Gold Rush, the author dispels common myths of software development.

Successful Software Development takes a systematic approach to consistently successful software development. It proceeds from the fact that there is no one way to develop software systems and introduces a model for a mature software development process that accommodates flexibility, the Systems Engineering Environment (SEE). This model comprises two fundamental, interlocked elements: the policies and procedures that define how software development is performed and the technologies available to get the job done.

Introducing the fundamental concepts and identifying best practices in the field, this textbook explains the role of software architecture in achieving system quality, its importance for a company's business strategy, and the specifics of how software is structured and how its components interact. Technical topics related to the design, specification, and validation of a system are detailed, with particular attention to the relevance of a project's business context. Case studies profiling successful architecture illustrate key points in both the technical and the organizational discussion. The authors are software engineers.

Written for software developers seeking career advancement, this book describes the discipline and process of writing specifications as well as the human aspects of the practice that are challenging to software architects. It compares the major object-oriented and network technologies, presents options for managing complexity on a small scale, and offers advice on developing leadership and team building skills. The second edition adds sections on enterprise architecture and model-driven development.

Successfully managing the relationship between business and technology is a daunting task faced by all companies in the twenty-first century. Beyond Software Architecture is a practical guide to properly managing this mission-critical relationship. In our modern economy, every software decision can have a significant impact on business; conversely, most business decisions will influence a software application's viability. This book contains keen insights and useful lessons about creating winning software solutions in the context of a real-world business.

Software should be designed to deliver value to an organization, but all too often it brings turmoil instead. Powerful applications are available in the marketplace, but purchasing or licensing these technologies does not guarantee success. Winning solutions must be properly integrated into an organization's infrastructure.

Situated between the very large Rational Unified Process and the very small eXtreme programing approach, the ICONIX process makes use of the Unified Modeling Language. The authors overview this process which draws on all these methodologies, and bring reality to theory via a running Internet Bookstore example and exercises. Appendices include part of a model report (available in full from an auxiliary Web site), and use case documentation.

Examines use case driven object modeling with UML, demonstrating the most common design mistakes and the correct solutions. Features 'top 10' error lists, numerous examples, and practice exercises to facilitate material retention. For anyone interested in practical applications of this type of modeling.

Sustainable software development is a mindset (principles) and an accompanying set of practices that enable a team to achieve and maintain an optimal development pace indefinitely. I feel that the need for sustainable development is an important but unrecognized issue facing software organizations and teams today. One of the more interesting paradoxes in the high-tech sector is that while the pace of innovation is increasing, the expected lifetime of successful software applications is not decreasing, at least not in a related way. This chapter outlines the value of sustainable development, while the next chapter discusses the pitfalls of unsustainable development.

Drawing on in-depth data from hundreds of development organizations, E.M. Bennatan presents a proven, 10-step program for rescuing any project that's worth saving. You'll find specific guidance for addressing massive budget overruns, schedule slippage, poor quality - or all three at once. Using practical examples drawn from decades of hands-on experience as a software development leader and consultant, Bennatan shows how to

• Evaluate where your project really stands
• Align your project's developers, managers, and customers
• Define the minimum acceptable project goals that are achievable
• Replan your project to successfully deliver the new minimum goals
• Identify risks in your revised project and create effective contingency plans
• Install an "early warning system" to keep your rescued project from slipping back toward catastrophe

Catastrophe Disentanglement is an effective, comprehensive approach to software project rescue. Whenever projects are in trouble - whether you are a senior manager, project manager, team member, or software customer - this book could save your career.

First published seven years ago-just before the World Wide Web exploded into dominance in the software world-About Face rapidly became a bestseller. While the ideas and principles in the original book remain as relevant as ever, the examples in About Face 2.0 are updated to reflect the evolution of the Web.

Interaction Design professionals are constantly seeking to ensure that software and software-enabled products are developed with the end-user's goals in mind, that is, to make them more powerful and enjoyable for people who use them. About Face 2.0 ensures that these objectives are met with the utmost ease and efficiency.

As the application of object technology-particularly the Java programming language-has become commonplace, a new problem has emerged to confront the software development community. Significant numbers of poorly designed programs have been created by less-experienced developers, resulting in applications that are inefficient and hard to maintain and extend. Increasingly, software system professionals are discovering just how difficult it is to work with these inherited, "non-optimal" applications. For several years, expert-level object programmers have employed a growing collection of techniques to improve the structural integrity and performance of such existing software programs. Referred to as "refactoring," these practices have remained in the domain of experts because no attempt has been made to transcribe the lore into a form that all developers could use. . .until now. In Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Software, renowned object technology mentor Martin Fowler breaks new ground, demystifying these master practices and demonstrating how software practitioners can realize the significant benefits of this new process.

Apply the principles of Scrum, one of the most popular agile programming methods, to software project management—and focus your team on delivering real business value. Author Ken Schwaber, a leader in the agile process movement and a co-creator of Scrum, brings his vast expertise to helping you guide the product and software development process more effectively and efficiently. Help eliminate the ambiguity into which so many software projects are borne, where vision and planning documents are essentially thrown over the wall to developers. This high-level reference describes how to use Scrum to manage complex technology projects in detail, combining expert insights with examples and case studies based on Scrum. Emphasizing practice over theory, this book explores every aspect of using Scrum, focusing on driving projects for maximum return on investment.