Under Pressure and On Time (Pro-Best Practices) [Paperback]

Ed Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pro-Best Practices | Publication Date: May 4, 2001

How do you hire-and keep-the best software engineers in the business? What real-world practices can really motivate a team to produce excellent results? From startups to major corporations, virtually every commercial software company struggles with building teams and shipping great software on time. Now industry expert Ed Sullivan shares the hard-won lessons and best practices from his 17-year career in software development. In UNDER PRESSURE AND ON TIME, Sullivan describes a proven model for creating, directing, and growing a world-class development team. Discussion includes recruiting, interviewing, company culture, scheduling, release engineering, tools, key processes, beta management, project status, project closure, and other critical topics for which-until now-frustratingly little information has been published. But UNDER PRESSURE AND ON TIME digs one level deeper than other project management books, delivering the fire-tested practices and essential how-to's that help you lead software teams to greatness.

Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073561184X
• ISBN-13: 978-0735611849
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,260,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Project Management 101, September 27, 2001

By 

F. Gagnon (boston, ma usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under Pressure and On Time (Pro-Best Practices) (Paperback)

If you have never been exposed to managing software development before, you may find this book interesting (just as you would find your first class on project management). However, if you know about software projects in general, you will likely find that you wasted your money (and your time). Sullivan spent most of the book describing his experience at his company and how they "succeeded" their software development. He presents the problems they faced in a very high level view without really proposing or suggesting concreate solutions. Overall, this book tells you what problems exists in software development projects, but you probably already know these problems since you are looking at buying this book...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent advice for the entire development organization, October 30, 2002

By 

Michael R Carruth (Snoqualmie, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under Pressure and On Time (Pro-Best Practices) (Paperback)

This book details common sense approaches to different aspects of software development - from defining requirements to development to software testing - that are too often overlooked or undervalued in many software shops. I am a developer, but the book contains a wealth of practical tips and techniques for project managers, developers, QA team members, and functional managers. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in software development that is looking for ways to improve the quality of the software they deliver. I never write reviews, but for me this book ranks up there with Steve McConnell's Code Complete as one of those books that I am constantly referring to in an ongoing effort to improve my ability to develop quality software.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for leaders, October 10, 2001

By 

Tom Flanery (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under Pressure and On Time (Pro-Best Practices) (Paperback)

An excellent book!

This book boils down the essentials of software development for leaders who need to manage software projects without a lot of overhead. As it said, it doesn't try to explain everything - but the coverage is broad enough to take you through the development cycle. It also relates a lot of real-world stories to show the principles in action and I found them helpful and could use some at work. It's not an academic book but rather a summary of what has worked well elsewhere. It's more like a case-study meant for leaders who need to see the forest through the trees.