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I. M. Wright's "Hard Code": A Decade of Hard-Won Lessons from Microsoft
Get insider insights into development processes at Microsoft—and strive for software excellence.
Get the brutal truth about coding, testing, and project management—from a Microsoft insider who tells it like it is. I. M. Wright’s deliberately provocative column "Hard Code" has been sparking debate amongst thousands of engineers at Microsoft for years. And now (despite our better instincts), we're making his opinions available to everyone.
In this collection of 49 columns, Eric Brechner's alter ego pulls no punches with his candid commentary and best practice solutions to the issues that irk him the most. He dissects the development process, examines tough team issues, and critiques how the software business is run—with the added touch of clever humor and sardonic wit. His ideas aren't always popular (not that he cares), but they do stimulate the discussion and imagination needed to drive software excellence.
Get the unvarnished truth on how to:
•Improve software quality and value—from design to security
•Realistically manage project schedules, risks, and specs
•Trim the fat from common development inefficiencies
•Apply process improvement methods—without being an inflexible fanatic
•Drive your own successful, satisfying career
•Don't be a dictator—develop and manage a thriving team!
Get the brutal truth about coding, testing, and project management—from a Microsoft insider who tells it like it is. I. M. Wright’s deliberately provocative column "Hard Code" has been sparking debate amongst thousands of engineers at Microsoft for years. And now (despite our better instincts), we're making his opinions available to everyone.
In this collection of 49 columns, Eric Brechner's alter ego pulls no punches with his candid commentary and best practice solutions to the issues that irk him the most. He dissects the development process, examines tough team issues, and critiques how the software business is run—with the added touch of clever humor and sardonic wit. His ideas aren't always popular (not that he cares), but they do stimulate the discussion and imagination needed to drive software excellence.
Get the unvarnished truth on how to:
•Improve software quality and value—from design to security
•Realistically manage project schedules, risks, and specs
•Trim the fat from common development inefficiencies
•Apply process improvement methods—without being an inflexible fanatic
•Drive your own successful, satisfying career
•Don't be a dictator—develop and manage a thriving team!
450 pages, ebook
First published September 5, 2007
14 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 8, 2012
I first heard about this book when I read the following review on about.com:
http: // visualbasic . about.com / od / vbbooks / fr / Br9780735661707.htm
It piqued my interest, despite my being retired, and having known for some years that I would never be interested in becoming manager of software projects -- definitely moot at this point! Many years ago, I dipped my little piggies into project leadership (not even real management!),and have remained emotionally scarred ever since.
When I started reading this book, my initial reaction was that the author was a self-centered, opinionated, arrogant jerk with way too much self-confidence. But then he's a relatively senior manager at Microsoft -- that's probably par for the course: he wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't capable nor full of confidence! His prose is, er, entertaining, and doesn't pull any punches -- intentionally so; he does it for effect, and to get a reaction (these were articles originally written for an internal publication at Microsoft). It took a while for me to get over this, and start listening to him (while gritting my teeth).
I didn't find the first few chapters terribly absorbing, but I stuck with it, and gradually things started to get more interesting, until -- around Chapter 5 -- I found material I could really relate to.
It was interesting to read in this book so many of the tenets that should have been followed at one of my former employers (a very large software company), but weren't. This book suggests very strongly that Microsoft has a much better handle than my former employer (a Microsoft competitor) had on how to develop software. Of course, I take with a giant pinch of salt how true the Microsoft characterization really is, from a very pro-Microsoft author. He talks in highly glowing terms about how Microsoft is the best company in the world, and such. However, he hits on so many points that I saw first-hand were weak points at my former employer. While things have probably changed there since I left, I suspect that they are still very undisciplined -- cowboys, to use the author's terminology.
The book can be viewed at a number of levels:
1) An insight into what happens inside Microsoft software development. Specific, but still interesting to anyone in the software industry.
2) A "How To" book on managing teams of software developers -- the description is very Microsoft-specific, referring to terminology and tools used there, but pulling back a little, the advice could easily be used very profitably in other environments.
3) A "How To" book for individual contributors on how to think and act in order to make the appropriate choices in career development, in Microsoft or any other reasonably well-informed software development organization. Also, to find out how enlightened (or otherwise) your current employer might be.
It is well worth reading, if you are a software engineer/developer, a software designer/architect, or software development manager, or plan to be in any of these roles. It describes so many of the things you will have to deal with in any software development organization, not only in Microsoft. In fact, if you pull back a little bit further, much of the sage advice given is applicable to lots of different organizations, even outside of software development.
Some points:
The author is continually emphasizing -- quite correctly -- how it's critical for the software engineers and managers, et. al. to ensure that the customer has a delightful experience (the currently fashionable expression). That does not jibe with my experience of Microsoft products, which continue to annoy the heck out of me, from operating systems (Windows) which require me to continually update them to keep them working properly to the point where I spend more time doing that than real work, to installable products that have a less than "delightful" install experience.
Towards the end of the book, the author compares Microsoft with Google and Apple, and predicts that Microsoft will beat them over time with continually improved products. Well, Apple is now a truly dominant player in the computer market, having been extremely successful designing and marketing its iPhone, iPod, iPad, and its various Mac computers. It is very clear that they have been far more successful with "delighting" customers than has Microsoft. His take on Google is also that it will fail w.r.t. Microsoft, but his arguments didn't convince me, and seemed to be overly Microsoft-centric. Things have moved on since the book was written, and I suspect his conclusions haven't born out. How they will continue is anyone's guess.
Not an easy read, but recommended!
==== Update, March 6, 2012 =====
It just happened that the very next book I read after this one was Steven Johnson's "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation". I was immediately struck by the difference in approach towards (and definition of) Innovation between Johnson's book and this one. I think that Eric Brechner would do well to read Johnson's book, to see the difference in approach to "Innovation" at Microsoft (at least what he describes), and that of Johnson's approach. Rather than elucidate this in more detail, I leave it to the reader (and Mr. Brechner) to do the necessary reading. Johnson's book gives a far more convincing argument for innovation at Google and Apple than does Mr. Brechner at Microsoft.
http: // visualbasic . about.com / od / vbbooks / fr / Br9780735661707.htm
It piqued my interest, despite my being retired, and having known for some years that I would never be interested in becoming manager of software projects -- definitely moot at this point! Many years ago, I dipped my little piggies into project leadership (not even real management!),and have remained emotionally scarred ever since.
When I started reading this book, my initial reaction was that the author was a self-centered, opinionated, arrogant jerk with way too much self-confidence. But then he's a relatively senior manager at Microsoft -- that's probably par for the course: he wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't capable nor full of confidence! His prose is, er, entertaining, and doesn't pull any punches -- intentionally so; he does it for effect, and to get a reaction (these were articles originally written for an internal publication at Microsoft). It took a while for me to get over this, and start listening to him (while gritting my teeth).
I didn't find the first few chapters terribly absorbing, but I stuck with it, and gradually things started to get more interesting, until -- around Chapter 5 -- I found material I could really relate to.
It was interesting to read in this book so many of the tenets that should have been followed at one of my former employers (a very large software company), but weren't. This book suggests very strongly that Microsoft has a much better handle than my former employer (a Microsoft competitor) had on how to develop software. Of course, I take with a giant pinch of salt how true the Microsoft characterization really is, from a very pro-Microsoft author. He talks in highly glowing terms about how Microsoft is the best company in the world, and such. However, he hits on so many points that I saw first-hand were weak points at my former employer. While things have probably changed there since I left, I suspect that they are still very undisciplined -- cowboys, to use the author's terminology.
The book can be viewed at a number of levels:
1) An insight into what happens inside Microsoft software development. Specific, but still interesting to anyone in the software industry.
2) A "How To" book on managing teams of software developers -- the description is very Microsoft-specific, referring to terminology and tools used there, but pulling back a little, the advice could easily be used very profitably in other environments.
3) A "How To" book for individual contributors on how to think and act in order to make the appropriate choices in career development, in Microsoft or any other reasonably well-informed software development organization. Also, to find out how enlightened (or otherwise) your current employer might be.
It is well worth reading, if you are a software engineer/developer, a software designer/architect, or software development manager, or plan to be in any of these roles. It describes so many of the things you will have to deal with in any software development organization, not only in Microsoft. In fact, if you pull back a little bit further, much of the sage advice given is applicable to lots of different organizations, even outside of software development.
Some points:
The author is continually emphasizing -- quite correctly -- how it's critical for the software engineers and managers, et. al. to ensure that the customer has a delightful experience (the currently fashionable expression). That does not jibe with my experience of Microsoft products, which continue to annoy the heck out of me, from operating systems (Windows) which require me to continually update them to keep them working properly to the point where I spend more time doing that than real work, to installable products that have a less than "delightful" install experience.
Towards the end of the book, the author compares Microsoft with Google and Apple, and predicts that Microsoft will beat them over time with continually improved products. Well, Apple is now a truly dominant player in the computer market, having been extremely successful designing and marketing its iPhone, iPod, iPad, and its various Mac computers. It is very clear that they have been far more successful with "delighting" customers than has Microsoft. His take on Google is also that it will fail w.r.t. Microsoft, but his arguments didn't convince me, and seemed to be overly Microsoft-centric. Things have moved on since the book was written, and I suspect his conclusions haven't born out. How they will continue is anyone's guess.
Not an easy read, but recommended!
==== Update, March 6, 2012 =====
It just happened that the very next book I read after this one was Steven Johnson's "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation". I was immediately struck by the difference in approach towards (and definition of) Innovation between Johnson's book and this one. I think that Eric Brechner would do well to read Johnson's book, to see the difference in approach to "Innovation" at Microsoft (at least what he describes), and that of Johnson's approach. Rather than elucidate this in more detail, I leave it to the reader (and Mr. Brechner) to do the necessary reading. Johnson's book gives a far more convincing argument for innovation at Google and Apple than does Mr. Brechner at Microsoft.
November 5, 2011
After a while of not really paying much attention to the world of software development, I'm back in a position where these things matter and this looked like a relatively fun way to survey what's been going on out there, as the I.M. Wright blog is an intentionally over-opinionated look at things that impact Microsoft developers.
Generally speaking, I got what I wanted out of the book, and even read a few things that directly and immediately applied to my situation. Ocassionally the articles apply a little too specifically to Microsoft to be much use, and his analysis of Google is laughably biased and (in my opinion) flat-out wrong, but no less fun to read for that.
Generally speaking, I got what I wanted out of the book, and even read a few things that directly and immediately applied to my situation. Ocassionally the articles apply a little too specifically to Microsoft to be much use, and his analysis of Google is laughably biased and (in my opinion) flat-out wrong, but no less fun to read for that.
February 17, 2016
For the first chapter or so, I wasn't really thrilled with this. The collected columns seemed to be very generic yet at the same time obsessively Microsoft-y (the incessant explanations of MS jargon got really wearing).
Somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd chapter, the book really clicked, and there's quite a lot of good advice / experience in there - though his rant against Google in the last chapter is wasn't one of his finer moments.
Recommended, with some caveats - a lot of the content really is specific to Microsoft as it is/was and you may not find those parts terribly useful
Somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd chapter, the book really clicked, and there's quite a lot of good advice / experience in there - though his rant against Google in the last chapter is wasn't one of his finer moments.
Recommended, with some caveats - a lot of the content really is specific to Microsoft as it is/was and you may not find those parts terribly useful
August 8, 2012
Very interesting read, written by a very clever guy. Shows a lot of problems with the way traditional management of software programers has been done. Heavy on antidotes, light on principles...but will leave you with enough warnings to avoid most of the traps and with enough laughter to work through the ones you do get stuck in. Well worth reading.
March 17, 2009
I appreciated his insight into Microsoft's development organization. It added some soul and flesh to the behemoth that is usually depicted as soul-less. I especially appreciated the chapters dealing with management (both up and down) as this gave me further action items (and best practices) to deal with in my own organization.
August 12, 2016
Great holiday reading.
I was a little skeptical when I found out that it was a collection of articles from a Microsoft internal magazine.
Turns out it is brilliant. A laugh-out-loud opinion on every page. A bulk of SD wisdom to take in and take-on-board. And Eric Brechner can really write.
I was a little skeptical when I found out that it was a collection of articles from a Microsoft internal magazine.
Turns out it is brilliant. A laugh-out-loud opinion on every page. A bulk of SD wisdom to take in and take-on-board. And Eric Brechner can really write.
November 6, 2011
It's too bad more of Microsoft doesn't listen to this guy. A really interesting look at how some groups within MS deal with software development and provides a lot of good advice applicable to all developers.
September 21, 2009
Interesting. Software project management tips from a Microsoft pm. Not everything translates out of their setup, but there's some good advice in there.
August 5, 2014
Some chapters are interesting.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews