Software Project Management: A Unified Framework (paperback) (The Addison-wesley Object Technology) - Softcover

Royce, Walker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0321734025 ISBN 13: 9780321734020

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional, 1998

Synopsis

Software Project Management presents a new management framework uniquely suited to the complexities of modern software development. Walker Royce's pragmatic perspective exposes the shortcomings of many well-accepted management priorities and equips software professionals with state of the art knowledge derived from his twenty years of successful from the trenches project management experience.

This book provides a clear and provocative discussion of the economics, metrics, and management strategies needed to plan and execute a software project successfully. Royce discusses--with refreshing candor--some of the fads, follies, and excesses of the software industry, clearly differentiating proven techniques from obsolete methods. Paired with this insightful examination are compelling arguments for new management approaches that are sure to stimulate debate. The relative impacts of these new techniques are quantified through simple economic analyses, common sense, and anecdotal evidence. The resulting framework strikes a pragmatic balance between theory and practice that can be readily applied in today's challenging development environment. An extensive case study analysis of a large-scale, million-line project--deployed successfully on schedule and under budget using these techniques--further illustrates their application.

Software Project Management provides the software industry with field-proven benchmarks for making tactical decisions and strategic choices that will enhance an organization's probability of success. This book includes:

• Top ten principles for modern software management
• Strategies for smoothly transitioning an organization to modern processes and technologies (such as Rational's Unified process)
• Methods for keeping software engineering teams motivated and effectively prioritized
• Insight into the impacts of technology, people, and economics on managing a project
• Metrics and forecasting guidance for project costs, schedules, and quality control

About this title

Review

For a cutting-edge take on how to manage today's object-oriented, iterative software development processes, take a look at Walker Royce's Software Project Management. This readable, comprehensive guide shows how well-managed software teams can produce better, more profitable software in less time.

The book begins by outlining the "traditional" waterfall approach to software development. The author looks at what changes for management when it comes to today's iterative software processes. Written with an eye toward management (with plenty of tables and figures for project estimation and planning), the author takes you through common pitfalls of managing software.

Besides reviewing older studies and metrics, the author offers his own 10 principles to managing software, along with hints for all facets of development, from initial inception to construction and deployment of software. The author provides detailed project milestones and other deliverables to help you manage software better, including a breakdown of tasks for your team that will help maximize your efficiency.

After a look forward at what better software management means for return on investment (ROI), the author presents several very useful appendices, which include software metrics (like COCOMO), as well as a description of the CCPDS-R missile command system (which used many of the author's management principles). Overall, this groundbreaking title will be useful to any software manager or project leader seeking to get control of software costs and improve team efficiency. --Richard Dragan

About the Author

Walker Royce is a Vice President and General Manager at Rational Software Corporation. During the past two decades at Rational and TRW he has performed in roles ranging from coder, designer, integrator, cost estimator, and trainer to software architect, project manager, product manager, R&D manager, technical fellow, and principal consultant.

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0321734025
• ISBN 13: 9780321734020
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 438