Adopting the Rational Unified Process: Success with the RUP [Paperback]

Stefan Bergström (Author), Lotta Råberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321202945 | ISBN-13: 978-0321202949 | Publication Date: January 8, 2004 | Edition: 1

This book describes precisely what needs to be accomplished in order to successfully implement the Rational Unified Process as a new process within an organization. All aspects of the process implementation are covered. The reader will find a management-perspective description of the RUP, and details on the effects that the RUP has on projects. In exploring an actual implementation, the authors present a definition of goals and metrics, advice on selecting strategies, and steps toward the development of an implementation plan. A discussion of implementation best practices and proven strategies is included. The book ends with descriptions from actual implementations, and a comparison of the content of the book with what can be found regarding this subject in the RUP itself. All of the above is based on the authors experience helping companies implement the RUP. Volvo was the authors' most recent engagement, and they use this project as their example throughout the book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Praise for Adopting the Rational Unified Process

“Stefan Bergström and Lotta Råberg take you through what may be your most crucial step in using the Rational Unified Process: a successful adoption process. From assessment of your current capability to the details of RUP implementation, this book takes you by the hand, and guides you. It is all backed by their considerable practical experience helping major industrial companies in Europe implement RUP.”

         —PHILIPPE KRUCHTEN,
             IBM Rational Software

“This book provides a unique perspective on how to successfully introduce lasting improvements into any software development organization. It provides practical guidance into how to conduct a process improvement effort using the Rational Unified Process, written by people who have many years of experience helping customers to be successful with RUP. This book is an essential addition to the bookshelf of anyone adopting RUP, or undertaking any software engineering process improvement effort.”

         —KURT BITTNER,
             Worldwide Communities of Practice Architect, IBM Rational Software
             Co-author of Use Case Modeling, Addison-Wesley, 2003

“Adopting the Rational Unified Process offers real-world advice from those who have been there, implementing RUP in enterprises and organizations. The authors speak from a deep, practical knowledge and honestly share both their successes and mistakes. Following the guidance in this book could save you months or years of costly trial-and-error when implementing RUP.”

         —BARCLAY BROWN,
             Renaissance Research Corp.

“Change is inevitable in the sometimes bleeding edge of software development; so where we can borrow best practices from other proven disciplines such as Business Change Management, we should do so with both hands. The authors practically demonstrate how to leverage these sensible practices when implementing the Rational Unified Process. If you are responsible for implementing RUP in your organization and can only buy one book, make it this one.”

         —TONY GROUT,
             CEO, FMI Solutions

This book teaches you how to implement the Rational Unified Process (RUP) so that you reap immediate returns on your investment in process improvement. With the help of this book's practical advice and real-world case studies, software practitioners will learn how to initiate and maintain the changes needed for an organization to successfully adopt RUP as a new process.

Adopting the Rational Unified Process picks up where Per Kroll and Philippe Krutchen's The Rational Unified Process Made Easy (Addison-Wesley, 2003) leaves off. By taking a guided tour of the activities needed during the process implementation, you'll learn the goals and measurements for adoption, how to select an implementation strategy, and the key points of an implementation plan. You'll also gain insight into management's perspective on RUP and learn how to best make a business case for adopting the process. In addition to sharing best practices and proven strategies, the authors connect their experience with the content in RUP.

Key topic coverage includes:

• Accessing your organization's current situation
• Setting implementation goals and identifying risks and opportunities
• Compiling an implementation plan, communicating the plan, and establishing the pilot projects
• Supporting projects with mentoring
• Avoiding the seven sins of a RUP project, from "planning to death" to "failing to move the product to maintenance"
• Tailoring the process to fit your organization's needs, including selecting from RUP, adding process information, and changing RUP
• Documenting your process: tools and tips

About the Author

Stefan Bergström formerly worked for Ericsson Corporation as a project and process manager. He joined Rational Software in November 1998. He has been a mentor and an instructor since then, helping several of Rational's customers in Sweden to implement RUP. He now manages the training business at Rational in Scandinavia.

Lotta (Ann-Charlotte) Råberg started as a software developer at a consultancy company. Her special interest in visual modeling led her to join Rational Software in May 1995. She has gained solid real-life experiences using RUP through consulting and mentoring at a variety of organizations, helping them succeed with RUP implementations.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (January 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321202945
• ISBN-13: 978-0321202949
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,544,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical guide to implementing RUP..., May 23, 2004

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Adopting the Rational Unified Process: Success with the RUP (Paperback)

Target Audience
IT professionals who are looking for instructions on how to implement the Rational Unified Process (RUP) in their project or organization.

Contents
This book is an instructional approach on how to implement RUP in an organization.

The book is divided into the following chapters: How To Adopt RUP In Your Organization; The First Meeting With RUP; What Is A RUP Project?; Assessing Your Organization; Motivating The RUP Adoption; Planning The RUP Adoption; Obtaining Support From The Organization; How To Adopt RUP In Your Project; Deciding Upon Your Process; Documenting Your Process; A Guide To Successful Mentoring; Experiences From Actual Implementations; Adding Another Project Management Method To RUP; Glossary; Recommended Reading; Index

Review
The Rational Unified Process, or RUP, is a software engineering methodology that attempts to map out and document all parts of a software development project. It's extremely comprehensive, but it's also adaptable to whatever level of effort is appropriate for your situation. This book, Adopting The Rational Unified Process, will not teach you RUP, but it will help guide you during the implementation process.

The authors have had extensive implementation experience with RUP, and they share their methodology of what works and what doesn't when it comes time to consider a RUP implementation for your organization. While RUP can be overwhelming to look at and imagine within your company, Bergstrom and Raberg help you understand each step of what is needed during an implementation. Plenty of time is spent assessing your organization and processes so that you can get a good fit and determination of what RUP pieces make sense given your particular situation.

In my view, this book is probably best used by a project manager or team leader who is responsible for implementing a RUP project. If you are reading this material in conjunction with an actual real-life implementation, you'll get the most out of the information.

Conclusion
If you've had instruction in RUP and now need to take the next steps for implementation, this would be a good choice to assist you in that process.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb for novice RUP engineers, April 20, 2004

By 

Sam Courtney (Dallas, tx) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Adopting the Rational Unified Process: Success with the RUP (Paperback)

This book is perfect for the new process engineer who is faced with the job of implementing RUP for their organization. Provides a great roadmap for following but not enough to do it alone - you will need a good mentor with experience doing this. This is one to add to the growing list of books you should read to be successful at RUP adoptions.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for engaging your company to use RUP, May 8, 2008

By 

Bobby Dash (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Adopting the Rational Unified Process: Success with the RUP (Paperback)

Introducing or enhancing the methodologies and processes for managing software development projects, introduces a certain amount of Change in the organization. Change is inevitable, yet Change is always faced with some level of resistance.

Depending on your corporate culture and environment, this book can help create a strategy road-map for successfully introducing the RUP process across the project or a larger team. While the book focuses on the RUP methodology, principles can easily be applied for PMBOK or other Project Management processes. It is a good book for planning, executing and managing the Change caused by adopting new software development processes, tools, techniques and templates.

From my experience, the adoption stages are: Awareness, Understanding, Buy-in and lastly, Engagement.