Book Review: Rapid Development

 
Feb 28, 2000
Rapid Development : Taming Wild Software Schedules Author: Steve McConnell
Review by: Michael Smith, TeraTech (http://www.teratech.com)

I read Michael Dinowitz's review of Steve McConnell's Code Complete in last week's issue of Fusion Authority, and wanted to tell you about another great book by him called "Rapid Development". This one is good for team ColdFusion projects on a short deadline (and what ColdFusion project is not rapid development!). The sub-title "Taming Wild Software Schedules" sums it up.

The book covers both technical ideas (such as estimation, risk management and mini milestones) and the psychology of both programmers and teams. The latter may be particularly useful on the high burnout 12-hour-a-day work cycle of many ColdFusion programming teams I have seen. Keeping everyone motivated and working together as a team is often more important than technical programming tricks on a large project.

Project Management Cookbook

The second half of the book, "Best Practices," is a cookbook of 36 techniques for project leaders designed to stop overruns and control those out-of-control, large ColdFusion projects. I have been developing for over 20 years, and nearly all of McConnell's tips ring true. The book is not about ColdFusion per see; it concerns any Rapid Development language.

I liked the fact that he rated each of these cookbook methods by the following criteria:

  • Potential reduction from nominal schedule
  • Improvement in progress visibility
  • Effect on schedule risk
  • Chance of first time success
  • Chance of long-term success

Here are some of the 36 classic mistakes that McConnell describes in detail:

  • People Related Mistakes
    • Heroics
    • Adding people to a late project
    • Politics placed over substance (etc.)
  • Process Related Mistakes
    • Abandonment of planning under pressure
    • Planning to catch up later
    • "Code-like-hell" programming (etc.)
  • Technology Related Mistakes
    • Silver-Bullet syndrome
    • Overestimating Savings From New Tools or Methods
    • Switching Tools in the Middle of a Project (etc.)

If you are like me and had to be involved in a few "projects from hell" then I am sure you winced after reading each of these nine points!

There are also fun sidebars from the trenches of real development teams, both successes and disasters. Twenty real-life case studies round it out.

To quote an Amazon reader "This book has so much information on the do's and don'ts of software development, that I recommend reading this book every year, to remind you of them."

This is a long book (650 pp) but I have found myself dipping into it for new insights in my daily work as a ColdFusion project manager.


Privacy | FAQ | Site Map | About | Guidelines | Contact | Advertising | What is ColdFusion?
House of Fusion | ColdFusion Jobs | Blog of Fusion | AHP Hosting