Philip Athans asked David Scott Bernstein:

As someone looking at the software industry from outside, will I get lost in technical detail? What can non-software developers get from this book?

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?

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