12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Quite possibly the worst book in the history of the written word, May 14, 2010
The concise review, for those who don't want to read all the way to the end:
Worst book ever. Don't take classes based on it if you want to learn system design or project management, and/or maintain your grade point average. If the course is required in your degree program, PLEAD with your instructor to choose another text. ANY other text. A
For Dummies book. Printouts of the Project Management and Software Development pages from Wikipedia. Anything. I'm serious.
If you HAVE to use this book, buy the Eastern Economy Edition, which is the exact same book without color graphics. You won't miss the color as much as you'll miss the extra $120 you'll pay for the US edition. Get it used if possible.
Now for the long and wordy review...
This text (Essentials of System Analysis and Design, Fourth Edition) was the required text for a course entitled Information Systems Design at my college.
If there was an option on Amazon's rating system to give negative stars, I would - because this text, and the accompanying PowerPoint slides based on it, took an otherwise excellent course and turned it into a nightmare.
In other words, using this book made the course WORSE; made the students understand LESS than they would have without it; and helped produce another generation of future systems analysts and project managers who don't know what they are doing, will cost businesses millions of dollars in failed projects, and will make life a living hell for those who will work with them.
The only favor that the authors do for students is warn them on page 3 that this book requires you to already have a general knowledge of the subject matter, as provided in an introductory Information Systems course, before you start. This makes it clear to everyone that it is unsuitable as an introductory text - everyone except the instructors who keep using it as an introductory text for Information Systems courses, that is.
Before you jump to the conclusion that your humble reviewer is a 19-year-old slacker who is trying to C-minus his way through Komputer Kollege because his parents said "Either go to college, get a job, or move out of our basement", a bit of biographical info:
I am a 45 year old male human who is changing careers due to the horrible economy. I've owned my own business for 23 years, and have been geeking with computers for almost as long. I will end up with either an A or A-minus in this course, to go with the rest of my A grades. If I get an A-minus instead of an A, it will be due to tests based on bits of trivia in this book; trivia that was buried under thousands of superfluous words.
Back to the book...
There are several problems with the book, starting with the authors (yes, plural - it took three authors to pen this steaming mound of detritus) forgetting who their audience was. The book is written by people who know the subject matter, *for* people who know the subject matter. It's clear that the authors NEVER handed their book to a fairly bright potential student and asked him or her "Does this make sense to you?"
This explains why previous versions of the book have reviews from students who call it crap, and instructors who think it's just fine, and that the students are just lazy and stupid.
The second problem is the writing itself. The authors seem to live by a simple motto: "Never say in ten clear, simple words what you can say in 1500 impressively large words, strung together in a convoluted jumble of thoughts." I believe, in the bottom of my heart, that they were told by the publisher to make the book thicker, so they could justify charging $160 for it.
Problem 3: The layout of the book. Without seeing any previous versions, I would be willing to bet that the first edition of this book was sent directly to press from WordPerfect 5.1 (1992 technology, and not meant for Desktop Publishing), and the basic layout hasn't changed since. Tables and graphics are inserted in a nearly random fashion. Fonts used, line spacing, kerning and justification just scream "I was done on an old word processor."
The layout issue is not just one of how pretty the book is, it's a matter of readability. This book will HURT YOUR EYES as much as it will hurt your brain. A few examples of how it will hurt your eyes:
The font used in tables is too lightweight to be read by anyone over 20, and to compound the problem it's printed in grey rather than black. The labeling and text in most of the graphics are also tiny and, due to bad color choices, are even harder to read. The line spacing and column width changes from the start of a chapter to the inner pages, and the columns are too wide in any case. Full justification makes the whole book hard to read.
The authors win an Irony Award on page 258, in a section on "Designing the Human Interface." There are five "guidelines for displaying text" in a table on that page, that apply to printed materials as well as computer screens. After listing those five rules, they break three of them in the next two paragraphs, and break four of the five throughout the book.
It is particularly chuckle-worthy that in their admonishment to avoid hyphenation, the word "hyphenate" is itself hyphenated. Good going, guys. Alanis Morisette would be proud. Damn shame you don't take your own advice.
Problem 4: The graphics, tables, and diagrams scattered haphazardly throughout the book. If you happen to have a copy of the book, already opened to page 258 so you could marvel at the craptastic layout, look at the graphic at the bottom of the page. Congratulations, you are looking at one of the few clear, useful graphics in the book.
Now flip to pages 174-175. QUICK! What's that mammoth diagram all about?
Flip to 171. QUICK! Which diagram shows the correct way, and which shows the wrong way?
Try page 60, Figure 3-13. How long do you have to stare at that before it makes any sense?
Let's go all the way back to page 5, figure 1-3. Why are there double-ended arrows connecting the three little word-bubbles? (Answer: Because they made a worthless graphic from a template in PowerPoint.) How about page 6? What the hell is that? What does it mean?
These pages and graphics were chosen at random, by the way. It wasn't difficult to find 5 crappy graphics. I just had to flip to five different pages with graphics on them.
Problem 5: The authors suffer from a slavish devotion to the SDLC, which is their chosen development model. It is outdated, and applies only to software development in the real world, yet it is applied (with a hammer when necessary) to all manner of projects in a typical course in project management or systems design.
Problem 5.5: Since the authors' favorite model is the SDLC, you'd think that they would diagram it completely at least once in the text. They do not. The representations of the SDLC are always the same ridiculous circular diagram (because, y'know, projects never really END, do they?)
Not once in the 400+ pages of the book do they list all phases and steps in the SDLC in one place, nor do they explain what the SDLC is. On the latter point, they almost come close once, in the glossary. "The series of steps used to mark the phases of development for an information system." A better definition would be "A filing cabinet to organize the steps you have to do to develop an information system."
On the former point, hey guys, ever heard of an outline? How hard would *this* be?
SDLC:
Planning and Selection (Project Initiation)
- Project Identification and Selection
- Project Initiation and Planning
Analysis (Project Planning)
- Requirements Determination
- Requirements Structuring
Design (Project Execution)
- Designing the Human Interface
- Designing Databases
Implementation and Operation (Project Closedown)
- Coding
- Testing
- Installation
- Documentation
- Training
- Support
- Maintenance
There are more problems, but I'm not going to be an unpaid editor for the fifth edition of this foul and rancid book.
Advice to instructors: Find another book. I know it's a boring subject and there is a dearth of good material on it, but making your students pay top-dollar for this tripe is adding insult to injury.
Advice to students: If you see this book, RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! Quickly before it burns your eyes!
Advice to insomniacs: Buy a copy. Helluva lot cheaper long-term than Ambien.
Advice to the authors:
1. Hang your heads in shame for making a bunch of students who would make excellent project managers think they're too stupid to do it, and pushing them to abandon a career path that might appeal to them if not for your book.
2. My college offers an online writing course for under $400. Take it. Respond to this review with an email address if you want the info.
3. Farm out the graphics and layout to professionals, you're not good at it.
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