Wow! eBook
Software Process Dynamics
Author(s): Raymond J. Madachy (Author)
- Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press
- Publication Date: January 28, 2008
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 640 pages
- ISBN-10: 0471274550
- ISBN-13: 9780471274551
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
“When Ed Yourdon says that this is possible the ‘best software engineering book’ of the year, and possible the decade, one can hardly argue.” (Ubiquity, June 10-16, 2008)
Review
Madachy’s book is a comprehensive compilation of the wisdom and knowledge gathered over more than twenty years of research in the field, and contains a wealth of material covering all important aspects of software project dynamics. Because many of the concepts are accompanied by example models, Madachy has provided the practitioner with the building blocks and the tools to move ahead. This book is a gift to software project managers everywhere.
–Dr. Tarek Abdel-Hamid, Professor in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School, author of Software Project Dynamics and pioneer in the field.
One of the best techniques for reasoning about the effects of complex interacting changes is the System Dynamics modeling framework that Ray Madachy presents in this book. As I’ve found in numerous applications of the method, it enables project personnel to model such effects and run the models to better understand the implications of candidate project strategies and decisions. His modeling experience as a technical leader in diverse organizations have given him a broad and deep perspective on the critical success factors for modeling various classes of software decision situations, while his teaching and research has enabled him to develop an integrating framework that makes system dynamics modeling much easier and cost-effective to learn and apply.
Overall, the book brings together a tremendous amount of useful process modeling material and experience in using it in practical software decision situations. It organizes this material into a unifying framework that makes it easier to apply and explain, and illustrates it with a wide variety of useful examples. I believe that the book will serve as a standard reference for the software process dynamics field and a great help to practitioners and researchers for a good long time.
-Dr. Barry Boehm, Professor in the Computer Science and Industrial and Systems Engineering Departments at the University of Southern California, Director of the USC Center for Systems and Software Engineering, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of ACM and IEEE, and pioneer in several areas of systems and software engineering
Ray Madachy’s new book is not only the best software engineering book of 2007, but quite possibly the most important book of this entire first decade of the 21st century. Many of us were excited by the possibilities of system dynamics modeling and simulation of software projects and processes in 1991 based on the important book Software Project Dynamics by Tarek Abdel-Hamid. But it was ahead of its time, and it didn’t incorporate many of the real-world issues and problems confronted by today’s project managers. Madachy updates Adbel-Hamid’s initial work with discussions of object-oriented methods, agile processes, open-source development, and distributed global development; and he also incorporates the best thinking of software cost models such as COCOMO II.
Project managers, IT executives, and CIO’s often wring their hands and ask why software development can’t be more of an engineering discipline, rather than a completely unpredictable form of witchcraft. Now there’s an answer, courtesy of Ray Madachy: serious, metrics-based modeling and simulation of software development. Along with a few other gems like Fred Brooks’ “The Mythical Man-Month,” I predict that “Software Process Dynamics” is going to be one of those key books that every software engineer, and every IT manager, has on his or her desk.
-Ed Yourdon, internationally recognized consultant, author of Death March and over 27 other computer related books, IEEE and ACM member, and one of the most influential people in the software field
From the Inside Flap
“Not only the best software engineering book of 2007, but quite possibly the most important book of this entire decade.”
—Ed Yourdon, internationally recognized consultant and author of twenty-seven books, including Death March
“A major and much needed new textbook. . . . [It] contains a wealth of material covering all important aspects of software project dynamics.”
—Dr. Tarek Abdel-Hamid, Professor in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, the Naval Postgraduate School
“Brings together a tremendous amount of useful process modeling material and experience in using it in practical software decision situations. . . . [It] will serve as a standard reference for the software process dynamics field.”
—Dr. Barry Boehm, Professor in the Computer Science and Industrial Systems Engineering Departments, University of Southern California
This book is designed for professionals and students in software engineering or information technology who are interested in understanding the dynamics of software development in order to assess and optimize their own process strategies. Software Process Dynamics successfully explains how simulation of interrelated technical and social factors can provide a means for organizations to vastly improve their processes. It is structured for readers to approach the subject from different perspectives, and includes descriptive summaries of the best research and applications. This self-contained book:
-
Provides methods, tools, models, and examples to improve management decision-making at all levels
-
Illustrates systems thinking in action to develop increasingly deep understandings of software process structures and behaviors
-
Describes the full modeling process, including calibration of models to software metrics data
-
Shows basic building blocks and model infrastructures for software processes
-
Demonstrates how others have used the principles of systems dynamics to analyze and improve processes, and summarizes all previous publications
-
Provides future research motivations
Software Process Dynamics is complete with exercises and executable models available on a related Web site that allow readers to learn hands-on and with the flexibility to go at their own pace. Furthermore, updates to the book’s chapters will be available on this Web site to keep readers up-to-date with the most current and emerging models and techniques. This is an invaluable reference for software engineers, IT practitioners, engineering process groups, project planners, managers, and executives who wish to improve their processes and be better informed. It also serves as an effective textbook for students in related courses at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels.
From the Back Cover
“Not only the best software engineering book of 2007, but quite possibly the most important book of this entire decade.”
―Ed Yourdon, internationally recognized consultant and author of twenty-seven books, including Death March
“A major and much needed new textbook. . . . [It] contains a wealth of material covering all important aspects of software project dynamics.”
―Dr. Tarek Abdel-Hamid, Professor in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, the Naval Postgraduate School
“Brings together a tremendous amount of useful process modeling material and experience in using it in practical software decision situations. . . . [It] will serve as a standard reference for the software process dynamics field.”
―Dr. Barry Boehm, Professor in the Computer Science and Industrial Systems Engineering Departments, University of Southern California
This book is designed for professionals and students in software engineering or information technology who are interested in understanding the dynamics of software development in order to assess and optimize their own process strategies. Software Process Dynamics successfully explains how simulation of interrelated technical and social factors can provide a means for organizations to vastly improve their processes. It is structured for readers to approach the subject from different perspectives, and includes descriptive summaries of the best research and applications. This self-contained book:
-
Provides methods, tools, models, and examples to improve management decision-making at all levels
-
Illustrates systems thinking in action to develop increasingly deep understandings of software process structures and behaviors
-
Describes the full modeling process, including calibration of models to software metrics data
-
Shows basic building blocks and model infrastructures for software processes
-
Demonstrates how others have used the principles of systems dynamics to analyze and improve processes, and summarizes all previous publications
-
Provides future research motivations
Software Process Dynamics is complete with exercises and executable models available on a related Web site that allow readers to learn hands-on and with the flexibility to go at their own pace. Furthermore, updates to the book’s chapters will be available on this Web site to keep readers up-to-date with the most current and emerging models and techniques. This is an invaluable reference for software engineers, IT practitioners, engineering process groups, project planners, managers, and executives who wish to improve their processes and be better informed. It also serves as an effective textbook for students in related courses at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels.
