How Software Is Built

Quality Software #1.1

by Gerald M. Weinberg

This is part 1 of the latest edition of the classic, Quality Software Management. Its fundamental purpose is to teach how to understand the dynamics of software development organizations, to plan software projects, and to act effectively to carry out those plans.

Genres: Nonfiction, Management, Technology

ebook

First published September 26, 2010

About the author

Gerald Marvin Weinberg (October 27, 1933 – August 7, 2018) was an American computer scientist, author and teacher of the psychology and anthropology of computer software development.

Reviews

[Mikhail Filatov · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems that this edition was done by re-scanning old books - "system dynamics" diagrams are hardly readable. Overall, it's not clear whether any corrector, not to mention editor, every read this book.
Still, there are interesting thoughts about applying system dynamics to different patterns of software organizations - from "citizen developers" (0) to "heroic programmers" (1) to Routine (2) to Steering (3).

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The starting book of the Software Quality series is an easy read that offers some great insights. Like many software projects it starts with a positive view on life and soon goes into the problematic parts where the challenges await. If you ever asked the question why projects can go so badly wrong you definitively should read this book.
The rest of the series is however a rollercoaster: Some books are great, others are full of nice ideas that unfortunately will be forgotten as soon as you put the book down. That said, this book is one of the good parts and will help you to understand the problem space quite nicely.

[Ralf Kruse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thin eyes I went I went to the problem solving leadership course of Jerry I read quite some of his books and this was one of the bests.
I like the style on how he uses own stories, cause effect diagrams and some simple nice models to make you think.