Chapter 7 - Lifecycle Planning - has a surprise for those who think that "Agile" and "SCRUM" are new revolutionary concepts. This book was written in 1996 and the Evolutionary Prototyping, Staged Delivery, Design-to-Schedule, and Evolutionary Delivery processes described there look eerily familiar to us.
There is a very interesting table on page 156: Lifecycle Model Strengths and Weaknesses. The Spiral model is a clear winner.
Chapter 9 - Scheduling - explains what the estimated completion date really is. "Developers typically estimate 20 to 30 percent lower than their actual effort. Merely using their normal estimates puts the chance of completing on time below 50%".
Chapter 11 - Motivation - has interesting insights about developers and managers. For example: "Compared to the general population, developers are much more motivated by possibility of growth, personal life, opportunity for technical supervision, and interpersonal relations with their peers. Developers are much less motivated by status, interpersonal relationships with subordinates, responsibility, and recognition."
Percentage of computer professionals who have a preference for:
- introverted (I) over extroverted (E): 58%... I = interested in ideas rather than people and things,
- thinking (T) over feeling (F): 80%... T = logical, objective decisions,
- judging (J) over perceiving (P): 66%... J = live in a planned, orderly way.
Chapter 43 - Voluntary Overtime - shows in a Machiavellian way how to trick developers into producing more without compensation. It's tricky, but it can be done. Other ways DO NOT work. Involuntary or excessive overtime decreases overall productivity. "Trying to motivate developers can be like trying to push on a rope - you'd be better off pulling on the other end."
Key Lessons:
- Software development can be optimized for schedule, quality, performance, maintainability, usability, cost. Pick one or make trade-offs.
- To get software on time you must:
- not make classic mistakes,
- follow software development fundamentals,
- manage risk,
- use schedule-oriented practices.
Summary:
Rapid Development complements Code Complete. It gives team leads and managers knowledge with which they can deliver software projects on time.
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