Software Development Pearls

"This is a collection of lessons that Karl Wiegers has learned over his long and, I can say this honestly, distinguished career. It is a retrospective of all the good things (and some of the bad) he picked up along the way. However, this is not a recollection of 'It was like this in my day' aphorisms, but lessons that are relevant and will benefit anybody involved, even tangentially, in software development today. The book is surprising. It is not simply a list of pearls of wisdom--each lesson is carefully argued and explained. Each one carries an explanation of why it is important to you, and importantly, how you might bring the lesson to your reality." -- James Robertson, author of Mastering the Requirements Process "They say experience is the best teacher. But experience is fraught with danger, because you'll make many expensive mistakes along its path. And experience is also a slow teacher. Experience's final lessons come just before you graduate--into retirement! "Wouldn't it be great to gain a lifetime's experience early in your career, when it's most useful, without having to pay for the inevitable errors of your own experience? Much of Karl Wiegers's half-century in software and management has been as a consultant, where he's often been called upon to rectify debacles of other people's making. In Software Development Pearls, Karl lays out the most common and egregious types of maladies that he's run into. It's valuable to know where the most expensive potholes are and which potholes people keep hitting time and time again. "Not just a disaster correspondent, Karl is well versed in the best techniques of business analysis, software engineering, and project management. So from Karl's experience and knowledge you'll gain concise but important insights into how to recover from setbacks as well as how to avoid them in the first place. "Forty-six years ago I was lucky enough to stumble onto Fred Brooks's classic The Mythical Man-Month, which gave me tremendous insights into my new career. Karl's book is in a similar vein, but broader in scope and more relevant for today's world. My own half-century of experience confirms that he's right on the money with the lessons that he's chosen for Software Development Pearls." -- Meilir Page-Jones, Senior Business Analyst, Wayland Systems Inc. "Karl Wiegers has done it again! He's created yet another wonderful book full of well-rounded advice for software developers. His wisdom will be relatable to all development professionals and students--young and old, new and experienced. Although I've been doing software development for many years, this book brought timely reminders of things my team should do better. I cannot wait to have our new-to-the-job team members read this, so they can be better equipped in their learning journey. " Software Development Pearls is rooted in actual experiences from many years of real projects, with a dose of thorough research to back up the lessons. Many software development books are so dry to read, but as with all of Karl's books, he keeps it light and engaging, chock-full of relatable stories and a few funny comments. You can read it from front to back or just dive into a particular section that's relevant to the areas you're looking to improve today. An enjoyable read plus practical advice--you can't go wrong!" -- Joy Beatty, Vice President at Seilevel "Karl Wiegers's Software Development Pearls achieves the challenging goal of capturing and explaining many insights that you're unlikely to be exposed to in your training, that most practitioners learn through the school of hard knocks, and yet are critical to developing great software. "While the book's structure compels you to connect with your experience and identify how to shift your behavior as a result, it's the content that shines: a collection of 59+1 lessons that cover the broad landscape of the software develo

Karl Wiegers is Principal Consultant with Process Impact, a software development consulting and training company in Happy Valley, Oregon. Previously, he spent eighteen years at Kodak, where he held positions as a photographic research scientist, software developer, software manager, and software process and quality improvement leader. Karl received a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois. Karl is the author of twelve previous books and has written many articles on software development, management, design, consulting, chemistry, and military history. Karl has served on the editorial board for IEEE Software magazine and as a contributing editor for Software Development magazine.

1. Learning Through Painful Experience 2. Lessons about Requirements 3. Lessons about Design 4. Lessons about Project Management 5. Lessons about Culture and Teamwork 6. Lessons about Quality 7. Lessons about Process Improvement 8. What to Do Next References Index