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Summary: And the truth shall set you free
Review: If you are searching for a shrink-rapped software development process, then this book is definitely NOT for you. I initially bought it and its sibling--Software Project Survival Guide-for exactly that purpose: to find a development process that I can apply to projects within my organization. Naturally, I quickly became frustrated with both books because they did not offer me the silver bullet I was seeking; there were no flow chart diagrams, document templates, or lists of deliverables. But as my experience grew, I finally saw the truth that McConnell was preaching all along: There is no "One Process". There is no silver bullet. A process will not guarantee you on-time and bug-free delivery of your projects. Recently, McConnell acknowledged what he was implicitly telling us all along: Every organization should have a toolbox of processes; processes that one can pick and choose from on per project bases. And that's where the real value of this book lies; it tells you what processes are out there, how to choose one for the project at hand, and what to expect from each process. It's about the "meta-process" if you will. It's both timeless and priceless knowledge. I highly recommend it for any team lead or project manager.
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Summary: Every Technology Manager Should Read this Book
Review: In a world where most managers think it's their raison d'etre to "negotiate" the most ludicrous schedule possible, this book is a godsend. (I actually design ASIC's for a living, but it's easy to draw parallels.) The one nit is that it does not realistically address the fact that good managers who can achieve tight schedules often don't get a chance to do so because they are underbid by incompetents within the organization.
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Summary: Don't be fooled by the catchy title
Review: This book is simply a must. As McConnell points out, it is useless to search for 'silver bullet syndrome' magic techniques to remedy software projects that fall into the common pits, without having a firm grasp on the state of the art. And how many 'Software Development Fundamentals' are out there, and that they are ignored by most people, is one of the great contributions of this book. The single most important part in my opinion is the one on project estimation -- there is a lower limit for development time, and it can't be lowered! In addition there are lots of references, for related topics summarized at the end of each chapter as well as in an appendix. To dive into some of these sources is worthwile, I discovered the venerable Gerald M. Weinberg as a first example. The book is extremely well designed, one can read in a continual flow as well as find information quickly. That's how a superb book should be made. (BTW, don't be fooled by the 'Microsoft Press' thing either, there's no relevance in that.)
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Summary: I reference this book constantly
Review: I'm a development manager and spend hours every week arguing about why we MUST do things THIS way. I find that I use this book and it's copious bibliography regularly. The impulse to abandon the very practices that will save our industry is profound. But there is a part of me that will not ship shoddy product. This book allows that part to survive the corporate culture where the only focus is on the next sale and the next quarter. I want my project to be maintainable in five years when we release version 3. Thanks to McConnel, I stand a chance at succeeding.
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Summary: out of date
Review: This will teach me to check a book's publication date before I grab it. The first couple of chapters seemed curiously old-fashioned, so I flipped through the rest of the book. That's when I spotted a Line of Code section that used Basic, Pascal and 'Macro Assembler' as example languages. I could almost wax nostalgic over the idea that rapid development is exemplified by a nine month in-house automation project for sales people. Those were the days - 1996 to be exact. I still have Steve McConnell's 1993 Code Complete, which is a classic. And his 1997 Project Survival Guide, which is still relevant. All I can say about Rapid Development is that it was probably a good anthology of current practice when it was written. This posting is anonymous because McConnell fans will probably flame this review.
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Summary: Very Similar to Code Complete but for PM's
Review: Being a fan of McConnell's "Code Complete" I decided to check this one out as well. My take is that it's very similar to Code Complete - but aimed at Project Managers, rather than developers. If you're a developer who wants to get a handle on the entire SDLC ( while picking up good coding practices ) I'd say get Code Complete. If you're a PM who'd rather skip some of the nitty gritty coding issues - get this book.
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Summary: Must be in every software developer bookshelf
Review: If you are involved in software development projects this is a book for you. Although oriented towards software project managers, the knowledge, insight, examples, and data make it a pool of useful information for anyone involved in software development projects. Steve McConnell begins analyzing the causes why software projects fail, continues providing a list of classic mistakes (most of us learnt them in the hard way) and the ways to reach the maximum possible development speed by focusing on the four dimmenssions of any software project (people, process, product, and technology). The last part contains a list of "best practices" and analyzes the impact of them on the project schedule and development speed. The book is easy to read (even for those among us that are not english spoken people), well structured, and full of useful references. The only drawback is, maybe, its age; be aware that is writen before the web revolution or the spring of eXtreme Programming.
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Summary: Desktop Reference
Review: The desktop reference that every project team member should have is Steve McConnell's "Rapid Development". My reason? This book covers just about everything - from Best Practices (more than 2 dozen) to Team Building, and includes case studies, "Do's and Don'ts", nuts and bolts, and topics of interest for any team member. It's a forward-thinking type of reference that literally makes people think about why "doing things right the first time" is far less painfull than "doing it again the right way". It's about 2-inches thick with nearly 650 pages of eye-opening reading for all.
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Summary: Deserves all the Glowing Reviews
Review: This book deserves all the glowing reviews. It is the most practical and useable project management book I've ever come across. This is not some dry academic tome. It is not some trendy treatise on the latest "extreme" theory. Despite the fact that Microsoft Press is the publisher, this is not some "Secrets of Microsoft" book, either. The book is eminently practical and full of common sense. The author writes: "This whole book .. is an entreaty to stop ... looking for silver bullets."
"If only common sense were commonly practiced." One reviewer griped "Restating the obvious." Well, that is true. What sets the book apart is that all these "obvious" "common sense" practices are enumerated, cataloged, analyzed, and presented in a very useable and convenient format. Moreover, the author takes great pains to prove his points by citing quantitative studies and looking empirical data. It has been my personal experience that most projects don't follow this "obvious" advice because management is looking for shortcuts and "silver bullets." Every project manager should read this book and disabuse him/her self of those fantasies. Each chapter ends with a nice "Further Reading" section. My only gripe: I wish there were a list of figures.
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Summary: Just when you thought you were out, they pulled you back in!
Review: This book was the first I had ever read on my road to learning about managing software development projects. I have since read several other good books on the topic but I keep coming back to "Rapid Development" because its insights are great. Along with Code Complete, if you only read two books these are the two.
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