Review of Systems Development Handbook, Fourth Edition (Hardcover)

This book is a compendium of monographs, each written by an industry expert, that cover all major topic areas in the development life cycle.It is divided into twelve sections ranging from Management and Planning to Post Development Administration.While the monographs have been carefully grouped, and the book benefits from consistent editing to form a coherent volume of practices, some of the topics are either weak or out-of-date.However, there are key topics that represent some of the best thinking in both software engineering and service delivery.Among the ones I found best are:

- All of Section I, covering project communications, requirements management and managing outsourcing risks.

- Section III, especially the emphasis on reuse, objects and metrics.A gem in this section is "Web-Based Customer Self Service: Justifying and Planning Applications".

- "Creating Effective Batch SQL Jobs" in Section IV addresses an often overlooked real world challenge.

- Sections IX (Quality and Productivity Initiatives) and X (Leveraging Staff Resources) are especially relevant to any organization.A highlight in Section X is "A Worksheet for Goals and Skills Assessment".

- Sections XI (Supporting Existing Software) and XII (Post Development Administration) add considerable value to this book by addressing a range of topics not normally found in books about development or software engineering - or are usually given brief treatment.These two sections should be read and taken to heart by the project and development teams delivering applications to service and support. It will bridge what in too many organizations is a wide chasm.

Each section is followed by a checklist, which can be used by practitioners to ensure that there are no major gaps in their own organizational processes.The best use of this book is as an organizational reference with a copy in for each project manager, process improvement group, and development group.

Product Description
The Systems Development Handbook provides practical guidance for the range of new applications problems, featuring contributions from many industry experts. The book provides step-by-step charts, tables, schematics, and a comprehensive index for easy access to topics and areas of related interest. Topics include cooperative processing; the transition to object-oriented development; rapid application development tools and graphical user interfaces (GUIs); database architecture in distributed computing; development tools and techniques, including design, measurement, and production; and more.

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