Software Endgames

Eliminating Defects, Controlling Change, And The Countdown To On-time Delivery
By: 
Robert Galen
Published: 
2005
Pages: 
304
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Book Description

In software development, projects are won or lost during the endgame--that final stage between release for testing and release to customers.

Software Endgames presents realistic strategies for delivering working software to your customers. Focusing solely on the endgame, the book provides hard-won, hands-on practices you can implement right away.

In the endgame, effective management of defect repairs is crucial. Experienced project manager and consultant Robert Galen shows how to conduct effective defect triage--analyzing, categorizing, and determining the priority of defects for repair.

Readers learn how to transform the endgame from a time of rampant defects and utter chaos into a time of focused repairs, effective teamwork, and change management. You'll set release criteria, establish endgame release plans, and utilize a variety of change reduction and endgame management techniques.

Topics include:

  • release criteria and how to leverage them to guide your teams' efforts
  • strategies for reducing the rate of change
  • change control and triage techniques that lead to efficient and effective defect repair decisions
  • alternative methods for defect repair and decision-making flexibility
  • setting up a defect-tracking system, managing defects and gathering standard metrics for endgame defect trending
  • techniques for repair planning and efficiency
  • agile extensions -- how to apply these techniques to agile projects
  • how to mine your endgames for improvements on future projects

The book features four appendices and more than forty figures and tables.

Member Reviews: 

Review By: Mark L. Krug
12/01/2005"Software Endgames" is a wonderful book. This technical book is surprisingly entertaining. The author covers all the important areas of quality assurance and process improvement. The information is well organized, straight to the point, and does not attempt to force concepts down the reader's throat. The author obviously has a good understanding of both the industry trends and the typical development lifecycle bottlenecks and hurdles. He makes the reader feel as though they come from common ground, and share the same frustrations and triumphs.

So much material is covered in what seems like such a short book. The triage and change control chapter is of particular interest as this is the area that many companies have the most trouble managing. The topic of release criteria is covered very well and would be helpful to any organization that currently does not have such criterion. Readers will find the book to be a valuable addition to their library, and I would recommend it to software development professionals involved in all areas of the software development lifecycle.

The recommendations are realistic and more grounded than most books written on this subject matter. Because it is written with short time frames and limited resources in mind, I find the information to be practical and realistic for today's software development environment. Current rapid development and short project timeframes often pose quite a challenge to quality assurance, process improvement, and testing professionals. This book shows that it is possible to implement quality practices and processes into the development lifecycle without sacrificing valuable development time.

The author's writing style feels more conversational rather than like a technical book. The chapters flow together and cover areas of particular interest. Adequate emphasis is placed on each area within the chapters, and the examples help to illustrate the subject matter. The author also gives plenty of references to more information. The charts, graphs, tables, flow diagrams, and sample checklists all helped to solidify the subject matter.

If you are looking for a fast, efficient, and effective way to inject quality into your projects this book will certainly kick-start those efforts. "Software Endgames" is informative, entertaining, and sufficiently covers all areas of quality assurance and process improvement.

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