economics-software

I was recently promoted to Team Lead after 5 years as a Software Developer, and I was looking for books that could give me some advice. This was one of my choices, and I was not disappointed with it. I was drawn to this book because of its ties to the Software Patters Series because I was interested in patters as a developer. It is questionable whether or not this book belongs in a patterns series, and the authors even admit that some of their patters are theorized rather than observed. This does not make it a poor text, but it probably does not belong in this series. Be that as it may, the book is broken down into five categories of patterns: Psychological and Retentive, Behavioral and Expulsive, Strategic, Tactical, and Environmental patterns.

While I do not agree with everything that the authors have to say, everything in the book is good food for thought. Many of the patterns are common sense, such as "21. Get A Guru". Nothing makes a manager's life easier than having an expert. "23. Overtime Detox" should be common sense, but it speaks of the state of software development when most software management books have to speak out against manditory overtime. One pattern that I really question is "24. Defense de Pisser". This pattern suggests that drug tests in the work place should be completely done away with. Even if I didn't agree with this in principle, it is not practal. Many companies are in the defense or transportation industry where employees are required by the government to pass drug tests.

I could go on for quite a while on what the authors have written, but I'll stop at giving you a peek at the book. While I don't agree with everything that the authors wrote, it was still worthwhile to read it from cover to cover. For each issue they present, I suggest first deciding whether or not you agree with them. Then answer the deeper question of why or why not. You will be better off for your efforts if you do.

Or how I learned to love my manager and stop worrying.

I am a software engineer with over twenty years in the trenches. I was recently placed in a managerial position at gunpoint. I suspect that this makes me the living anti-thesis of this book, wherein developers choose a manager for thier team from a pool of available managers. I read this book a few months ago. I found myself today presenting an argument to our Higher up Management addressing why mandatory overtime is a bad idea. I found the lucid writing of the authors rolling off my tongue and to my surprise and utter disbelief they agreed. Too bad there was no chapter addressing higher salaries and less responsibility. At any rate it worked. I would like to thank the authors in this review.

I was somewhat disappointed by the use of Radical in the title. As a baby boomer I was geared up to read an accompaniment to Jerry Rueben, "Steel this Book", but alas are there any radicals left amongst us. The book is a funny read, and in many ways conjured both visual and practical similarities to The Mythical Man Month. Can the "Mythical Radical Corporate Manager" be far behind.

Good book !

The format and presentation make it an easy,entertaining read. However, there is some great insight that can be harvested and used in a very practical way. It provides a clear understanding of the drivers behind some of the typical behaviors we see every day. It's a huge advantage to be able to understand and anticipate how groups interact.

I would recommend it to anyone in the IT trenches.

This book is at its best when explaining the theory. Jarrow provides lots of very explicit examples that really help to illuminate the ideas. Unfortunately, the reader is left to fend for himself when it comes to implementing the theory. The author simply breezes over how to estimate and calibrate these models. There is a rich--but abstruse--literature on how to apply HJM models. This book would be greatly improved if it covered this aspect of the topic with the same care and detail as is devoted to the theoretical segment of the book.

The book is very good, unquestionably. It provides you with a deep understanding of interest rate models and risk management. Mind you, you need to know the basics of bonds and fixed income contongent claims, before you try this book. The examples are apt, and explanations are succint, and easily understood. The mathematics involved can be mastered easily, and no arcane stuff (like measure-theoretic probability etc.) are used. So, the book will be accessible to MBA students too. This book has helped me understand the subject very well.

I head an interest rate swap desk after several years trading interest rate swaps. I refer to this excellent book when I need a quantitative brush up. Most of our challenges are on the fundamental principles, and Jarrow covers them very well. I'm a fan of Jarrow, and have several of his other works as well. Since I soon will also have responsibility for credit derivatives, I bought and recommend "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli. This book brought me up to speed on exotic options in this market as well as total return swaps and the various types of credit derivatives products. Many of my customers use interest rate exotics as well as these products.

It's true that this work by journalist Gerd Meissner is a thrilling look under the skirt of an otherwise secretive technology empire. SAP is reknown for its closed-door policy, to the frustration of enterprise applications developers everywhere.

But SAP's decision to embrace "Inside the Secret Software Power" should tell you something about the focus of this book: the company's recent blunders do not appear; nor is their disasterous attempts to forge an R/3 alternative with Intel. Still, the writing is compelling, and if Herr Meissner writes a followup, I'll be first in line to buy a copy.

As editor of www.searchSAP.com, I am always looking for a greater understanding of the company and its success. This book was a fun read. A great view of the roots of SAP. I loved the story about the founders, who had no computer of their own in 1972, traveling to use other companies computers. While I wonder if some of this is slightly exaggerated. I still loved discovering the quirky fivesome who founded the software giant.

Meissner presents an interesting and balanced history of SAP. While this book will teach you little about the R/3 software, it will provide great insight into the people and culture that created and support R/3.

The history of the 5 co-founders and the interplay of the 5 throughout the initial stages of the company and the development of R/2 and R/3 are fascinating.

Meissner provides insight into the ever-changing relationships of SAP with the press and the industry analysts. He also explains the role of major, influential customers in the ongoing development of SAP's products.

My only disappointment with the book was the relatively little information about SAP developments since late 1996, early 1997 when the book was originally written.

Otherwise, a smart investment for anyone involved with SAP R/3, contemplating an SAP implementation, and for anyone who simply likes a good story.

No new revelations here. This story has been told in earlier books, and with more ground breaking impact. This is a case of the publisher hoping to capitalize on a big business story, but too late !! See earlier books on the Microsoft antitrust case, such as The Microsoft File.

There are no press releases in this book, no spin by the local media and no facades maintained for the public. Ken Auletta exposes this case for what it is, even if he gets some of the details wrong in the process. There are no heroes and no villains, though there is a distinct slant against Microsoft and its top brass (Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer). Even so, Auletta doesn't paint a rosy picture of the other parties involved either. Overall, I would have to say it's about as impartial as one could be.

As I read this book, I found myself flip-flopping back and forth between who I thought was right and who was wrong. In the end it was apparent to me that Microsoft was most likely guilty of some unfair business practices, namely denying computer manufacturers (OEMs) the right to put competitive software on computers with Windows software. But the case mutated away from that point to whether or not Microsoft has the right to add functionality to its operating system. Where this whole saga will end (if ever) is anyone's guess.

All in all, this is a good book to get an overview of the case and the people involved.

Just when we were waiting for Microsoft to meekly split itself based on the outcome of the first landmark court decision, it looks like the software giant is racking up the points in what may be the most exciting appeals case in US history.

World War 3.0 couldn't have come at a better time. This book goes into background about Internet browsers, the internet itself and computer operating systems, a key point in the anti-trust lawsuit. And it does an equally thorough job of informing the reader about US anti-trust law. These details are essential to understanding the case against Microsoft, and they are presented here in a way that is detailed yet completely comprehensible.

This would be dry reading indeed if there were not also vivid descriptions of the players; Bill Gates, brilliant, visionary,self-absorbed and completely ill-equipped to play the high-stakes game of personality; the prosecutor, who has gotten himself the case of a lifetime and Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, traditional and sober judge. What is surprising is how much Judge Jackson reveals in this book, as judges are notoriously close-mouthed.

The appeals process is now underway and it ain't over till it's over. If you want to be informed on a case that will literally affect the future of technology, it's well worth reading World War 3.0.

Linthicum writes a comprehensive text for technology managers. The 500-page book describes the world of EAI in detail with an emphasis on web services. It covers the benefits and limitations of web services, provides examples of where to use and not use them, and introduces standards with an emphasis on XML. The book encourages IT to make the much-needed shift from an information to a service-orientation. As such, a considerable part of the book dedicated to emerging EAI styles, such as SOA (Service Oriented Architecture), which requires IT to think in business terms and promises to speed development and decrease integration time when correctly implemented. Coders and those looking for technical information on standards should look elsewhere. The book contains many diagrams that are crude but effective. The writing style is unrefined and repetitive. This can be overlooked if you're willing to skim through them.

This is a good book highlighting application integration, and how it extends to Web services. I was very happy with the content, I thought the information was presented well, and the book is well organized. I'm not a technical type, and I found that this book was tough to follow in places without some additional background research as I was reading...even using the author's previous books.

Overall it's worth the time and the money, I would recommend it to anyone looking to figure this stuff out, as I'm doing right now.

Not sure what this was all about, so I figured I would plunk down $40 for this book, and I'm glad I did. The book puts things into perspective for me, more so than other books I've read on the topic. Also, I thought the views were well balanced...down-to-earth...defining the ROI, as well as the technology.

It is a bit technical in places, but does not seem to talk too much above the heads of those that are less technical. The figures are helpful, however.

Have you ever wondered how the teams at Microsoft work? This book is an inside glimpse into how a work group there operates. It is not a comprehensive view of Microsoft' and in fact each group could be said to have its own unique dynamics, but this book will provide a brief and useful view of the process of creating and shipping a product at Microsoft. This book follows several members of a group within a now defunct section of Microsoft. They were creating a product, and the book documents each person's feelings, opinions, and unique perspectives on getting their own jobs done' and how they have to work together to accomplish the ultimate goal of creating a product. Microsoft employees, it is shown, have a great deal of personal freedom and latitude in doing their jobs, but when it comes to working together in a team, their very idiosyncratic personalities often conflict. Add to this a very strange but not surprising element of artists versus programmers versus project managers. Add yet more' regular Microsoft employees versus contract employees. Whether the friction and problems the book conveys are real or not, they are perceived by many employees, which affects the work environment. An interesting aspect of the business model and organizational chart is that the employees are only a few levels (3 or 4) away from Bill Gates (or the highest level of the company). Most people at some point in their careers are required to present their work to Gates (or equivalent level) at some point. The book depicts Gates as a very temperamental and demanding person who will look at something which is next to perfect, get angry about its flaws, and yell at the creators insisting on something much better. And then when the presentation is over and the creators leave, Gates says something about how brilliant it was, but if people think he did not like it, they will strive to make it more perfect. The book might be dated by now. Organizations change a great deal in just a few years. Microsoft was not being threatened by the Justice Department when this book was written, and although MS was a huge company then it was not as big as it is now. The book is the first to point out the effects of organizational change, and Microsoft, like most large companies, goes through organizational change frequently. Interesting book... worthwhile read.

In the past I always assigned "Soul of a New Machine" to show my students what it's really like to work in a small project team with unrealistic deadlines (i.e. normal high tech). But the technology there is too out of date - 4.77Mhz, single boards for single functions, etc. So I have shifted to "I Sing," with generally good results. The book is 2x the length I would like so I assign selected chapters, but it reads easily enough that most students read the whole thing. They are always amazed by the level of chaos and conflict; in fact it makes them feel better about their own team design projects. The sequence of events is not easy to follow, there are too many characters, etc. so I provide some supplemental information on my web page. This is the best book I know of for a class on high tech development culture. There are plenty of case studies of the auto industry, but most of them are puff pieces and they are all about giant projects. Ditto for books about Boeing. The e-commerce stories are polluted by money and novelty issues (though I keep hoping to find one.)

"I Sing the Body Electronic" is a success story. Fred Moody entertainingly describes the lifecycle of a product created by Microsoft. The mystifying part is how the success described in the story came to be. Moody vividly explains the socio-political inner workings of Microsoft by tailing a development team from the start of a product until its eventual completion. The team members come to life on the page, and the observations made by Moody add an intellectual quality to what would otherwise be a soap opera.

The book is gripping until the very end. The dialogue and writing are easily read, and well chosen. The chronological layout of the book, while necessary, is unfettering. All together the book is well written. Fred Moody ends the book with a provocative suggestion as to how a doomed project became a success. I wont spoil it by telling you what it is, but trust me its insightful.

I can't help but believe that Bill Gates traded in his families only possessions for some magic beans. Well it has certainly paid off for him, and Mr. Moody as well.

The authors definitely did a fine work by doing excellent research about Microsoft's product development and marketing. This book would prove to be very helpful to those who are coming from a non-technical perspective. It occasionally offers some valuable insights into Microsoft's strategies but it is quite dry for the most part even for a person who has plenty experiences in software development. The Microsoft 'secrets' are not exactly impressive. It would be impossible to know the true secret in a book, otherwise every software company would become a Microsoft (then again, not every company wants to). The book is a bit dated, but nevertheless offers the curious reader some insights into the development and marketing of Microsoft's past successful (and unsuccessful) moves. This book made Microsoft seems to be more fallible than its invincible image of every day praise.

Michael Cusumano's "Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People" is truly as in depth as its title suggests. Cusumano has gone to great lengths to give a very detailed picture of how Microsoft goes about its business, both internally and externally.

The purpose of the book is to explain what makes Microsoft tick. It may come as a surprise to most people, but, according to Cusumano, Microsoft is not a dictatorial fiefdom. Perhaps Microsoft's greatest success is in obtaining and retaining the best programmers in the field. Programmers are notoriously independent souls who likely wouldn't stand an overbearing workplace for long.

That's not to say that Microsoft is not a high pressure environment. Programmers are expected to meet deadlines and to be knowledgeable about what they are doing. This may sound axiomatic but the number of companies whose employees are partially (or even completely) in the dark is staggering.

The best part of "Microsoft Secrets" is that most of the lessons to be drawn from it can be applied to any organization, especially the people management techniques. Even some of the more 'software industry specific' techniques can be transferred to other deadline oriented industries (e.g. publishing).

The only real drawback to the study though is its long-windedness. When I say that Cusumano has gone to great lengths to present this picture of Microsoft, I mean he has *GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS*. This only detracts partially though as the book does remain a good read.

The Good

Where do most of the worst business people come from? M.B.A. schools usually. Students with strong academic skills with the honored M.B.A. can do the accounting, statistical work, and market research analysis. But does that mean they have a "business mind," or good "business sense?" Absolutely not. (That's why a new test is being devised to determine the "common sense" abilities of MBAs). Gates is a perfect example of the many successful business people who didn't spend time in front of Ph.ds in ivory towers regurgitating "business theories and paradigms."

A look into the technological and mainly business side of Microsoft, the author breaks down the organization into the "how's, why's, and what's" of MSFT.

It's common knowledge that Gates is a genius in the technical realm, and MSFT is a behemoth organization that has the majority of market share. But how did Microsoft grow to where it is and thrive in this ever-changing and competitive industry? This book explains the business (more than technical) philosophy, model, and actual examples from products and projects. Interviews with former and current managers and employees are also included.

Again, it's common knowledge that Gates is exceptional at business. Ask their competitors. Note that Steve Jobs had a better product that was on the market earlier but he lacked the business, marketing, and management acumen. Gates not only seeks out brilliant techno minds but considers their business sense equally important, and this is heavily weighed when he decides to hire prospective candidates. Those hired are also individualists who will challenge him and other superiors, and argue and debate with him, in the search for the best idea or model. An employee gets Gate's respect, the author writes, "when his employees yell back." If Bill is converted by their arguments as opposed to his, he likewise changes course, taking the best route.

One of the most dangerous and damaging things to a company, and any organization, are "yes men." A company culture that rewards the "yes man/woman" mentality leads people to misrepresent themselves and their work, and the managers and ownership eventually become "out of the loop." This leads to uninformed decisions, cover-ups, resentment, and alienation that benefit no one.

This is written for the laymen, but can be a bit dry. Things such as shipping strategies, keeping teams small on projects, constant self analysis and critiques, and the reliance on customer feedback, are some of the many interlinking factors of the organization. The company likes people and departments that are interdependent upon one another to be physically close to one another. I.e., in the same building or on the same property, so if there is a problem or a need for clarification, they can see each other face to face to discuss it, instead of swapping emails, voicemails, and engaging in converence calls from across the country. Again, it's common knowledge that a major tenet of MSFT is to find out where the industry is going in the future, become the leader, and provide products with such strong quality that they become the "industry standard." The author even provides some organization charts to pin-up on your wall.

Not The Bad And The Ugly

The point of this book was to focus on the positives. The strategies and models that make the company pre-eminant. What is not in the book is: the common claim that the company is a monopoly, engages in unfair business practices, and limits the choice of consumers by ramming its product down their throats. There have been numerous charges and lawsuits that MSFT treats employees poorly. This company hires a lot of temps, work them overtime, plays with them, and then discards them. For the positives, read this book. For information on the not-so-great things about this organization, there are plenty of other books to read.

I bought this book with a lot of anticipation. I work in the software
industry, and in my company am responsible for managing the entire
chain of software development, from requirements to release. I was
very disappointed both with the recounting of the technical
difficulties as well as that of the personal challenges encountered by
the contributors to NT.

In a nutshell, I found the book to be quite bland. The counterpoint
was weak and the difficulties of the NT team hardly tangible. Part of
the problem with the book is it has so many disjointed pieces that the
result is an incoherent patchwork.

Also, I was shocked to see how little reference was made to Unix, it
was perhaps mentioned once. Let's face facts. Most of what NT wanted
to be already existed in Unix. Multi-process, multi-user,
network-enabled, access security, advanced file system, kernel space
protected mode -- for all the great things that NT was supposed to
include, it was just a Unix wannabe, which already had all this and
more. It's clear that most of what went into NT was cloned from Unix,
but there is no mention in Zachary's book of how Unix influenced the
construction of NT.

It is hard to believe that NT independently ended up looking so much
like Unix, but from the recounting in Showstopper, this is what
Zachary would have us believe. Perhaps he was just misled in his
interviews (the sin of ommission?), however it's clear that he either
did not do his homework, or he explicitly did not want to tell this
somewhat embarassing (for Microsoft) part of the story.

I found this an absolutely riveting read. The book provides a view into a type of company and an approach to software development that is different from anyplace *I've* ever worked. Many things about it have stuck with me--the perspective on testing an operating system that will have to work with every popular software product; the staffing philosophy at Microsoft; the "eating your own dog food" concept (developers and testers had to actually use NT as they were developing it, thus constantly exposing themselves to its flaws). The author does a good job of telling the stories both of the big players and the worker drones. It's a very personal book about what strikes me as a very impersonal company. It's one of those rare non-technical books that I recommend to people who are new to software engineering. I read it for the first time when I'd just gotten my first software development job, and again several years later, and I didn't enjoy it any less the second time around.

I am a beginner to the programming. it helped me a lot with a lot of interesting insights into the programming and the life of a programmer through this novel story of creation of a mammoth operating system called Windows NT.
helped to better understand the design cosiderations, priorities of a modern day operating system like NT, complexity management in a large scale software development project by controlled chaos and also gives an interesting insight into the inner workings and life at microsoft.

though this book won't go into a lot of technical details, gives very interesting technical anecdotes where ever appriopriate. As mentioned in the some of the reviews above, it focusses on the people behind the NT even with their personal details, with two chapters devoted to the NT's chief architect dave cutler and also about scores of other people on the project.

This author should have stoped writing this book on page 18. At this point he had already covered everything several times. Makes me think i could write a book so long as i went over the same stuff over and over.

This book should be read by anyone who is not particularly computer-literate and has been burned by bad consumer software.

The central message of the book is that consumer software stinks because you, the consumer, buy it anyway and don't hold vendors responsible. Software intended for the general public has been so lousy for so long that people have become accustomed to it, even to the point of making apologies for the vendors. The author gives a reasonable amount of background on several aspects of software quality (technical, legal, business), some steps to take, and mentions a few resources.

The book is more about raising the level of awareness of the issue than about helping you deal with any particular bug though. Nothing will happen until there is a major change in public opinion.

Kudos for illustrating how the semi-technical press (PC Magazine and the like) contribute to the problem.

Although the author has the big picture right there are too many details wrong in his superficial presentation of the software development process for me to recommend the book enthusiastically. Nonetheless much that is in this book will probably be a revelation to the general public and so what really matters is that the big picture is right.

The resource section could have been a lot more directly useful, and should have a web site backing it. But there are some useful pointers.

This is a very important book. I'm somewhat worried that it's not getting enough attention, and though I'm hardly a conspiracy theorist, I wouldn't be surprised if certain powerful forces were doing their best to keep people from reading it.

Minasi correctly argues that companies could (and should) produce much better software than they do. Quality goes out the window because industry dynamics favor big liars--companies that continually promise new and better features, but instead ship bug-ridden monstrosities.

As Minasi realizes, this pattern will continue unless consumers and/or legislators act to stop it. Companies will only act to improve their software if they are given sufficient motivation to do so. Such "motivation" might include lawsuits, consumer boycotts, or what have you. But for the moment, the odds are stacked very much in the industry's favor.

My only real complaint is with the title. The word "conspiracy" suggests that the book was written by some kind of flake or crank. That is definitely not the case. I hope the title doesn't give Microsoft, Sun, et. al. a good excuse to dismiss the book and its author.

Some brief history, albeit disorganized, accompanied by rambling editorials about free beer and communism.

Peter Wayner explodes the story of the Open Source/Free Software movements into one compelling narrative. Mixing a history of the movements, from the universities where they were spawned (Berkeley, MIT, and others), the personalities, people like Richard Stallman (GNU), Eric Raymond (The Cathedral and the Bazaar), Linus Torvalds (Linux) and the lesser known but vital free programmers, with the current business climate, (the Internet, the Microsoft trial, IPOs), Wayner crafts a book that should popularize this topic to the general public. His insights to the effect of free and open software to the marketplace will give ammunition to those seeking to express their passion to code on their stodgy bosses and will keep many CEOs up at night trying to figure out how to save their precious revenue streams. Wayner also peppers his story with a little sociology, politics, and history, to make the book stand out as a critique of life in the last decades of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. Ultimately, he makes a strong case for his prediction of why Open Source/Free Software will topple the proprietary software houses in the near future.

Peter Wayner does an outstanding job of looking at the history of the free software movement in this thoughtful, thorough book. Unlike other books about technology that refer to freeware (free software) as an example, Wayner looks directly at the phenomenon to evaluate its significance, the potential for the future, and why it works. I was especially impressed by the way he combined perspectives: historical, competitive, psychological, user needs, financial, resource, and wealth. Each one tells you something you need to know about this important area.

At first, my reaction was that this book would be only of interest to those who do not know much about freeware. Having read the whole book and thought more about it, I think the lessons here are probably just as pertinent for those who are active in the freeware movement. For Wayner is really addressing the long-term viability of what is needed to succeed. Many challenges are still ahead. For example, he notes that "the daily struggle for some form of income is one of the greatest challenges in the free source world today." These are the Minutemen of the Knowledge Age, doing other work to keep a roof over their heads and fighting for better software in all of their free time.

I especially enjoyed the many profiles of people who are involved with freeware in humble, altruistic ways. In an age described by many as greedy and self-obsessed with momentary pleasures, many of these people are the sort of independent thinkers and doers who originally established the United States and made our modern lives of freedom possible. We should all salute them!

The basic argument is that openly-developed freeware is an effective model for accelerating the rate of technological and human development in using data processing and electronic communications. For example, over half the Web servers run on open source software because it works better. You can create a supercomputer for $3,000 using open source freeware. The freeware model works because users draw attention faster to glitches (and bugs), and talented, caring people who are interested in solutions are drawn to creating rapid fixes. There is fame, reputation, and notoriety available for doing this free software work -- as well as tangible benefits in getting one's own tasks done faster and better. It is basically an argument based on complexity science and chaos theory, but built on the actual experiences of the software built from the original UNIX base at Berkeley and the Linux operating system.

One of the intriguing contrasts that is drawn is between the Microsoft development and marketing approach and the one for freeware. This is also characterized as the suits against the nerds. Wayner also points out that many mixed models are also developing. Red Hat offers Linux for those who want some better documentation and some support for a price. Hardware makers are starting to support freeware development activities.

Wayner does a good job of overcoming labels that often seem to be misapplied. He explains that Linus Torvalds really focuses now on the kernel of Linux rather than all of its aspects, and the choices that Torvalds made which allowed Linux to become so powerful. He also shows the detailed views of important people in the development of freeware such as Richard Stallman (author of the GNU Manifesto). The history of disputes among those involved in freeware are fascinating, such as the way that the AT&T lawsuit against Berkeley slowed down the development of BSD (Berkeley Software Development) so that it lags behind Linux in numbers of people using its freeware.

From reading this book, I had the sense that something even more important is at stake here. I suspect that the freeware movement is actually creating a new and improved paradigm for acclerating human progress which can be applied in many other fields of knowledge. As Wayner points out, however, this is in some ways merely a reversion to the historical intellectual model of universities freely sharing knowledge for the benefit of all. That model has not usually been applied to creating commercial significant products and services directly. Perhaps the day has come for that to happen with the connectivity of the Internet to help us.

Overcome your disbelief stall that existing methods of innovation will always dominate!