Architecture-Centric Software Project Management: A Practical Guide [Paperback]

Daniel J. Paulish (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0201734095 | ISBN-13: 978-0201734096 | Edition: 1

To fully leverage the value of software architecture in enterprise development projects, you need to expressly and consciously link architecture with project management. This book shows how, drawing on powerful lessons learned at Siemens, one of the world's leading software development organizations. The authors offer insight into project management for software architects, insight into software architecture for project managers, and above all, insight into integrating the two disciplines to maximize the effectiveness of both of them. Learn how to develop cost and schedule estimates for development projects, based on software architecture; how to clarify architecture so projects can be more effectively planned and managed; and then how to use architecture to organize, implement, and measure the project iteratively as work progresses.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Architecture-Centered Software Project Planning (ACSPP) is an important software development methodology for planning software projects. By utilizing software architecture when managing projects, practitioners experience better success completing projects on time and within budget, while effectively fulfilling the project's requirements.

Written for project managers and software architects, Architecture-Centric Software Project Management demonstrates how to draw on software architecture to design schedules, generate estimates, make scope decisions, and manage the development team for a successful outcome. The book addresses each cornerstone of effective project management—planning, organizing, implementing, and measuring.

Dan Paulish provides a wealth of practical, experience-based advice on such topics as:

• Using architecture to define project organization
• Developing realistic schedules
• Using global analysis for project and test planning
• Managing expectations and deciding when to commit
• Building a project culture and an effective team
• Managing tradeoffs and making project decisions
• Risk management and avoiding unpleasant surprises
• Defining project success
• Using architecture for global development

In addition, real-world case studies illustrate the book's strategies, approaches, and techniques. These case studies help the reader fully comprehend the challenges and struggles inherent in software development, and demonstrate how common obstacles can be more easily avoided using an architecture-centric approach.

0201734095B11202001

About the Author

0201734095AB09052001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (January 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201734095
• ISBN-13: 978-0201734096
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,521,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PM & Global Development, May 17, 2002

By 

Voelker Axel (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Architecture-Centric Software Project Management: A Practical Guide (Paperback)

Certainly the importance of mastering project management, in particular for products that contain signficant amounts of software, is crucial for business success, both at Siemens and elsewhere. This book is based on extensive practical experience and is a broad and well-written book on this topic. The special focus on software architecture as a major success factor for projects provides a useful perspective -- not only for project managers but also software architects as well as others in the software development team. This book also provides a unique "global development" perspective on the topic of project management.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lynchpin of SEI's architecture and product-line material, August 15, 2002

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Architecture-Centric Software Project Management: A Practical Guide (Paperback)

The ideal audience of this book includes anyone who works within, or who follows, SEI's (Software Engineering Institute's) extensive body of work on architecture and/or product line engineering, or who needs to develop a project management framework for software development. While the approach in this book is more suited for product-oriented development, it can also be used for major internal projects.

As the title implies, the focus on the project management framework is the architecture, and the key elements of the approach are planning, organizing, implementing and measuring. The latter element lends itself to continuous refinement and fits nicely into CMM level 4 and 5 organization, which is not surprising since the CMM is embedded in practically every guide produced by SEI.

What makes this book special, though, is the clearly defined approach that is systematically presented using case studies and frequent diagrams to orient you as you go through the book. More importantly, the author communicates a vision and shows how to put it into practice.

I like the approach because it lends itself to realistic project planning and estimation. By taking an architecture-centric approach it's easy to develop a complete work breakdown structure early in the planning phase, which provides a foundation for detailed estimating. I also like the way the approach separates, then integrates, team organization, requirements and strategy, risk management and release planning.

This is not another project management methodology, but instead, shows how to use architecture as the focal point of the project and use whatever specific PM methodology suits your organization to effectively define project deliverables and the final product. It's complete, realistic and will work in practice.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sage insight into software architecture, project management, March 18, 2002

By 

James Wood (Fort Lauderdale, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Architecture-Centric Software Project Management: A Practical Guide (Paperback)

I find this book enormously helpful with its wise insight into all aspects of software project management, in all the technical, managerial, political, marketing, and personnel areas that influence the success of software projects. Its emphasis on good architecture and design as the basis for good project management is essential for current and future project managers to understand and appreciate. The book is well-written, well researched, and very readable, particularly valuable in the insights from a manager who has worked in multiple divisions, multiple product domains, and in multiple countries with international engineering teams.