Review of Business Resumption Planning, Second Supplement (Loose Leaf)

This is a very comprehensive overview of the entire Business Resumtion planning process.It gives enough detail for you to get started and walk you through the entire process.It is very consistent with other research I have done on the internet in regards to Business Resumption.The book takes you through Business Operations Recovery, Data Center Recovery, and Voice and Data Communications Recovery.I have so far focused on the Business Operations Recovery, but I am sure that the other sections are just as comprehensive.Certainly the best overall resource for Business Resumption that I have found to date.This will be my "go to" manual during this entire planning process.

Product Description
Post 9/11, the focus on corporate disaster preparedness, availability of time-critical product delivery, and customer service is the order of the day. Business Continuity Planning Step by Step presents a top down approach to business process high-availability and continuity planning. It provides the most efficient and effective guidance and methodologies for undertaking current state assessments and for the development, implementation, testing & maintenance, and measurement of organizational continuity planning infrastructures. The text includes checklists and other forms that readers can use to simplify and expedite execution of continuity planning activities and tasks.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author
TelLAWCom Labs, Inc., Ovilla, Texas, USA--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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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the book benefits from consistent editing to form a coherent volume of practices, some of the topics are either weak or out-of-date.However, there are key topics that represent some of the best thinking in both software engineering and service delivery.Among the ones I found best are: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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Review of Patterns for Performance and Operability: Building and Testing Enterprise Software (Hardcover)

I've been in IT for almost 20 years now and just about all of the books are pie in the sky theory and cut and paste methodologies that don't work in an actual deployment.
(Why didn't I give this book 5 stars?I would've like some "anatomy of a failure" type lessons learned.But I would've given it 4 1/2 stars if possible.)

This book eschews the theory and talks about what needs to be done to put a service into a production environment and keep it up and running.If you're looking for some great guidelines as to what needs to be done to get a product up and running, this is the book.

As a software test professional, I make a plea to my testing colleagues to get this book.There needs to be more focus on the non-functional aspects of putting a service into an operational state and so little testing is done these days with that in mind.

For developers, it provides a good list of tips for making a system much more responsive with regards to status and reporting in a production environment.Great reminders for Devs to build a system that works in the environment to which it will be deployed.

Get it!

Product Description
Applications that work perfectly in controlled settings often fail in production environments, impacting business operations; this can result from a failure to account for any number of unforeseen events in hostile production environments. This book explores a frequently overlooked aspect of software development: non-functional design and testing. In the real world, hostile production conditions and changing business usage can lead to unforeseen downtime or unacceptable system performance. Written by technologists and based on real field experience, the book examines common failure scenarios, defensive design patterns, and effective performance strategies. It illustrates approaches to plan and execute comprehensive testing to ensure compliance with critical non-functional requirements.

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Review of Reducing Risk with Software Process Improvement (Hardcover)

I have to say that I'm impressed. It is a very well structured book, similar to the CMMI model structure. It has real life problems and solutions, which you can use to imitate or avoid. Tips and practices that you should and should not do are widely depicted throughout the whole book.

If you are on the try to improve the way software is built in your company this book is a good start that will advice you on what should be done.

It's worth the buy, believe me.

Product Description
Reducing Risk with Software Process Improvement recommends the critical practices that aid in the successful delivery of software products and services. The author describes the observations that he made over a period of ten years in IT projects and organizations. He focuses on the areas of software development and maintenance, highlighting the most frequently encountered problems that occur due to poor processes. The author derives recommendations from 40 comprehensive assessments of IT organizations.

This book details the potential or real problems each organization experienced, and offers anecdotes on how these problems resulted from deficient practices, what their impacts were, and how improving specific practices benefitted the organizations.

This volume provides valuable advice for project and application managers looking to minimize the number of crises they have to deal with, and for IT practitioners seeking the practical solutions that lead to career advancement. It benefits customers who need to know what to look for before purchasing IT products or services, and helps investors analyze the efficiency of IT companies before making investment decisions.

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Review of Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java (Hardcover)

Design patterns used to be the hottest topic around a couple of years ago. One of the side-effects was the "Applied Java Patterns" book which I very much liked and used to recommend to anyone looking for a "GoF" replacement using Java for code examples. Not anymore. From now on, I'm recommending Kuchana's "Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java".

Why am I so pleased with this book? What makes it any different than other design pattern books? Well, first of all the volume is huge. Kuchana's book covers all the original Gang of Four patterns plus another 20 or so patterns, including a couple of multithreading related patterns. Second, the text itself is very readable and doesn't cling too much on fancy words. The explanations are concise and to the point. Further kudos goes to dealing with such frequently asked questions like the difference between Factory Method and Abstract Factory.

To list some things I didn't like about this book, I have to say that having exercises without sample answers in the back was a tiny disappointment and I would've preferred a bit more condensed font for the code listings. That's about it.

All in all, a very good choice for filling the gaping design patterns encyclopedia slot in your bookshelf. Highly recommended.

Product Description
Software engineering and computer science students need a resource that explains how to apply design patterns at the enterprise level, allowing them to design and implement systems of high stability and quality.Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java is a detailed explanation of how to apply design patterns and develop software architectures. It provides in-depth examples in Java, and guides students by detailing when, why, and how to use specific patterns. This textbook presents 42 design patterns, including 23 GoF patterns. Categories include: Basic, Creational, Collectional, Structural, Behavioral, and Concurrency, with multiple examples for each. The discussion of each pattern includes an example implemented in Java. The source code for all examples is found on a companion Web site.The author explains the content so that it is easy to understand, and each pattern discussion includes Practice Questions to aid instructors. The textbook concludes with a case study that pulls several patterns together to demonstrate how patterns are not applied in isolation, but collaborate within domains to solve complicated problems.

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