Customer Reviews

Under Pressure and On Time (Pro-Best Practices)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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...

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.

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.

Ed Sullivan's summary of the practices that work at NuMega are a must read for any software development organization. Sure, a lot of the comments are just common sense, but from my experiences, they are rarely practiced. The project management section is trivial, obvious and better covered in other references. The details of the steps and the overall process that NuMega has successfully used are the valuable part of the text. Things like insisting on daily builds, test automation, and parallel development are the little gems that can keep you on a schedule.

A lot of people and books talk about this stuff, but few organization, (in my experience) manage to actually follow these methods. I think I would have liked working for Ed at NuMega.

If you are looking for an exhaustive, narrow focused list of procedures on how to manage a project, you have it here. It was disappointing for me because I could have learned the same tactics by finding some procedure list on the internet. It feels like the author just starting spewing out his list of procedures, and kept doing that the whole way.

In case you are familiar with newer agile principles, don't look for any sympathy in this book. It's filled with everything you already know about the "old-school". There was a small part of me that wanted to be inspired by more traditional methods. But the methods presented left me feeling that the author just used them without question, which is a fine way to stay in a profession rut.

Incredibly boring to read. Not a "classic". It could pass as a reference manual though. Not recommended.

I received Under Pressure and On Time as a gift
and read through it in a weekend. I found it
funny and full of practical solutions for my own
development team.
The chapter on "scheduling" addressed most all of
my particular challenges with terrific ideas.
I plan to keep a copy and pass along a copy.

This was a great book outlining many of the things a company did to succeed while under pressure. I enjoyed the "Back at Work" sidebars, annecdotes about how they applied the techniques in this book.

Wow... what a great read... that is, it's a great read if you want to read the same sentiment over and over: Ed Sullivan is a very smart guy, and all the people at NuMega (now Compuware corp.) are geniuses. If you take a look at their current product offerings you might decide that Ed's "philosphy" _might_ not be the best way to go.

Just read the sample pages included here at amazon before you decide to plunk down your money on this obvious ego trip.