Ask the Author: David Scott Bernstein
Answered Questions (2)
David Scott Bernstein
I wrote Beyond Legacy Code about the software industry and, although the book discusses technical practices, I wanted to make it accessible to anyone. While there’s a lot of value in this book for software developers, I’m particularly interested in having non-developers read this book so they can better understand the issues the software industry faces.
This book focuses on the motivation behind the practices so developers and non-developers can better understand their purpose and value. This book does not cover the basic of how to apply the practices because there’re already several good books where that information can be found (see my bibliography). I see this book as a “why-to” as opposed to a “how-to” book.
I’ve tried to fill my book with unique and valuable content as well as lots of insights. I’m discussing known practices but addressing them differently. I’ve witness dozens of teams adopt these practices. I discuss the common pitfalls we tend to fall into when first applying them and how to avoid those pitfalls. I look at how to make the most of these practices so they can be used to their fullest. Most importantly, I think, the book is also accessible to non-developers so all the members of our team, including non-technical managers and stakeholders, can get on the same page as to the value of the technical practices.
If you’re a developer reading this book, can you see value for yourself as well as for your manager? If you’re a non-developer reading this book, do you have more insight into how software is built? How has what you’ve read affected what you think about software development?
This book focuses on the motivation behind the practices so developers and non-developers can better understand their purpose and value. This book does not cover the basic of how to apply the practices because there’re already several good books where that information can be found (see my bibliography). I see this book as a “why-to” as opposed to a “how-to” book.
I’ve tried to fill my book with unique and valuable content as well as lots of insights. I’m discussing known practices but addressing them differently. I’ve witness dozens of teams adopt these practices. I discuss the common pitfalls we tend to fall into when first applying them and how to avoid those pitfalls. I look at how to make the most of these practices so they can be used to their fullest. Most importantly, I think, the book is also accessible to non-developers so all the members of our team, including non-technical managers and stakeholders, can get on the same page as to the value of the technical practices.
If you’re a developer reading this book, can you see value for yourself as well as for your manager? If you’re a non-developer reading this book, do you have more insight into how software is built? How has what you’ve read affected what you think about software development?
David Scott Bernstein
Having worked in the software industry for over three decades, I wanted to make how we build software accessible to non-developers. We all depend on software but few people understand how it's built. New ideals, like Agile, are helping but most teams are only adopting the easier practices and not getting the value they'd hoped for. My book discusses nine technical practices that are the highest value yet least understood. I wrote the book as narrative non-fiction and tried make how we build software accessible to anyone by relating key concepts in software development to common sense. Several non-technical people have told me that once they started reading it they couldn't put the book down. I'd love to know what you think. You can read excerpts, watch a video, and buy the book at http://BeyondLegacyCode.com.
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