Rating: 
Summary: A must read
Review: Even if you are not a manager or a leader, you can read this book. There are a lot of examples (and references)of what you must avoid and how you have to proceed during SW development. It is very helpful to get the right answer for your manager, asking you impossible schedules: I reccomend the suggested books about negotiation.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding examples of software successes and failures.
Review: As a 15-year software developer, I found this book to be a real eye opener. I can turn to just about any page, and find case studies and examples that relate to my past experiences.This book is great for computer geeks, managers, and everyone in between. It shows you what the other guys are thinking, and why. By enumerating classic mistakes, and giving suggestions for success, this book provides a roadmap for getting you to your destination - a software product that's on time and under budget.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended reading -- Great reference
Review: The author of this book does not present "the one and only rapid development process". Instead the book presents in great detail over 20 good practices that are known to speed up development. The reader is expected to combine these practices to get a good combination for the current project. The language in the book is smooth and the author really tries to explain in a simple and easy to understand way. I still needed a lot of time to read the book, simply because of the enormous amounts of information in the book. The book includes a lot of statistical data. This is really great to have if you get into an argument with management about if the schedule is achievable. The book is published by Microsoft Press. As I am very far from being a Microsoft fan, I was very sceptical at first. But the book is really great and applicable to all software development projects, including those on UNIX and embedded systems.
Rating:
Summary: A superb MUST read for any software development organisation
Review: This book must rate as probably the best software practitioners guide written to date. This book will certainly become a prescribed book to study upon joining our software development team. The structure of the book are well considered and the examples provided to highlight the discussion is excellent. The compilation of all the software development "Best Practices" as a seperate part in the book towards the end of the book is great. It allows for fast confimation of ideas and priciples.
Rating:
Summary: Generous, dazzling, always useful if you care even a little
Review: Technology information is rarely organized and expressed with such insight and thoughtfulness, and out of such a confident sense that the software-production environment many of us increasingly live in could be a better place. This is an enormously valuable work for anyone from a computer-science student to the highest management in the information age--it takes seriously the social world of software engineering; McConnell's advice is sound and backed by research, experience, and an obvious passion. I buy this book regularly out of my own pocket for people starting in the business or joining my staff.
Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener
Review: As a fresh developer, I found this book incredibly helpful. It has given me insight into the cause of many of my mistakes. I am not one to read technical manuals cover to cover, but the wisdom enclosed in this book won me over.
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: Should be required reading for software developers. Even though it's geared toward management/project leads, as a developer you'll see problems you are experiencing and will know how to ask for what you need. Practical advice from someone with real-world experience as well as being well-read in the literature. Like some others, i had never bothered to write a review before...this is one you don't want to miss.
Rating:
Summary: A real page turner
Review: I have suggested this book to my brother in law, who creates new soda flavors, and to a friend, who owns a woodwork shop. Substitute the words "woodwork" or "soda" for "software", and you still have a great book. If your job requires design and planning, no matter the discipline, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: I want to rate this book 6 stars
Review: I had never write any review to other books before. But I have to write sth for this. It is really a book can be rate as 6 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of different viewpoints for different problems
Review: Mr. McConnell has obviously 'been there, done that' and he has taken it a step farther than most authors - he has a LOT of different approaches to try that depend on what your problems are and conversely, your strengths. I've run projects (many not strictly software development) and the approaches he presents apply to them also. The only thing I would suggest is that you need to remember the title - this is a Rapid Development book. If you have problems in your development cycle - follow his advice and use any one of the variety of methods he presents to gain CONTROL of your operations before you attempt to squeeze the last man-month out of your schedule. A big part of effectively producing software (or other projects for that matter) is avoiding the devastating mistake - everything else is just fine tuning. A well thought out and presented book. I highly recommend it.
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