economics-software

This book contains something for managers, particularly upper management who needs to not only endorse the P-CMM, but also need to commit to it and sponsor it in order to make it happen. The chapters of the book that apply to them are:
1 -The Process Maturity Framework, portions of 5 - Interpreting the People CMM (Organizational Factors, and commitment and Ability to Perform), and 7 - Experience with the People CMM).

For technical line managers the entire book will be relevant because it covers the reasons, structure and key process areas in great detail. In addition, once a P-CMM initiative is given the go ahead, the implementation team and all primary stakeholders will also benefit from large portions of the book because it also covers implementation issues and an approach in detail.

Overall, this book presents a maturity framework that contains goals for any organization that understands the relationship between the morale and management of a technical workforce and the resulting impact on the business bottom line. I'll go so far as to state that if this book is followed and a successful implementation of the P-CMM results, attaining the corresponding level of the SW-CMM will be relatively effortless.

If you have previous experience with the older versions of P-CMM, or CMM-SW, or the newer approaches as set forth in later versions and CMMI, you'll note that there are two implementation models: staged and continuous. The staged approach is the only supported implementation for P-CMM version 2.

The book goes into extraordinary detail about the P-CMM and how to implement it. You can easily use this book as a roadmap to achieving levels 2 through 5 of the P-CMM, or as a resource for improving the people part of the people-process-technology triad that defines IT. As such you need not have certification as a goal to gain value from this book. If you do decide to pursue certification at level 2 or higher, however, I strongly recommend that you also get a copy of Kim Caputo's 'CMM Implementation Guide'. That book, while focused on implementing the CMM-SW, contains sage advice and a sound approach to dealing with the real problems that you'll encounter: organizational inertia and resistance, training and implementation issues and obtaining they key ingredient - commitment to perform.

Here's how much I like this book... I am taking a cost accounting class now and when I get confused by something in that book I refer to the last chapter in Accounting Principles, which is Managerial Accounting. And more often than not I get a better explanation.

Prof. Graziano Maldonado, Jr.
East University
A Member of the Ana G. Mendez University System

While the book is only about 100 pages there is enough information about Gates' roots, his ride to the top of the software industry and his recent battles with the Justice department to give this reader a new look into the man himself.

The author gives you pictures from early childhood to his start with Microsoft in Albuquerque to his work with the Bill Gates Library Foundation. I must admit most of the photos have already been seen, however they're a few new and interesting ones, especially his new house.

I personally liked the way the author put together the story, not running over of boring you with details in any one are. The storyline flows from start to finish. Granted there is a lot more that could have gone into the book, however this one was an excellent read.

As a speaker at conferences and seminars I frequently challenge IT people to become more business savvy. My recommendation -- read David Loshin's "Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide" first. Then read a BPM book, a CRM book, a supply chain book, and so on. If you're working in IT and have data warehouse or BI responsibilities, I make the same recommendation to you.

The proof, however, is in the practice. At a recent TDWI conference (San Diego, November 2003) this book sold out within the first few days of the event -- before Loshin had even arrived at the conference to teach a class. The Savvy Manager's Guide was among the top-selling books at this event and the first the be sold out.

Read this book. You'll be glad that you did!

My goals in reading this book were to find the best framework with which to apply to service delivery, and to integrate this framework into application delivery. Since these terms are ambiguous in the software industry here are my definitions: service delivery encompasses the maintenance, operation and support of applications after they have been released into production. Application delivery is the analysis, design, construction and testing of applications prior to release to production.

This book compared and contrasted each quality approach and provided some surprising facts. For example, until I carefully read this book I was under the impression that the SEI CMM was the most process-oriented approach. As it turns out ISO 9000 (specifically, ISO 9000-3, which addresses software and services) is more heavily oriented towards process. Another surprise was discovering that the SEI CMM places more emphasis on leadership than the Malcolm Baldridge approach. Each of these facts were easy to discover because the author did an excellent job of correlating criteria of each of the approaches and displaying results in graphs and charts.

Prior to reading the book I was confused and frustrated by the competing standards and frameworks. This was exacerbated by the fact that there is a large body of knowledge devoted to each and these bodies comprise thousands of pages of dry material. After reading this book I felt as though I had a grasp of the focus of each approach, and their relative strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, I was able to determine which of the three is best suited to service delivery and its integration with application delivery (the Baldridge approach appears to be the best choice).

I appreciated the author's efforts in clearly outlining the what's and why's behind each approach, and the succinct manner in which each was compared, contrasted and correlated. This is an extremely valuable book for individuals and companies trying to sort through the buzzwords and assumptions on quality frameworks to select one that is most appropriate for their goals and objectives. I strongly recommend this book for software engineering managers, including members of program management offices (PMOs) and software engineering process groups (SEPGs), as well as service delivery professionals (production services, tier 1 and 2 support, etc.).

Highlights: It's an up-to-date text that addresses the full range of topics from the contemporary legal environment defined and changed by the internet, to business agreements. The chapters on contract law, privacy and liability are essential reading for anyone involved in e-commerce, either as a business process owner or as an IT professional who is responsible for online content.

The first seven chapters are my favorite because they covered information that is of particular interest to business and IT professionals. Chapter 1 covers the legal landscape of e-commerce issues, then segues into three chapters on contract law, present and future issues of contract law that are specific to e-commerce, and contracting and licensing software. These chapters realistically address real issues and challenges. These chapters build the foundation for the next chapters that cover torts in general, and cyber torts in particular, and liability issues (often overlooked, but a all-too-real exposure).

Chapters 8 through 10 cover intellectual property in great detail. This topic is an inescapable reality of doing business over the internet, and is one in which the legal issues are still evolving. I recommend that anyone who focuses on this aspect of law also read Bill Zoellick's excellent book, CyberRegs: A Business Guide to Web Property, Privacy, and Patents. Chapter 11 is a brief examination of business organization that can be glossed over, but the final chapter, 12, on cyber companies and internet agreements is an essential chapter that is filled with invaluable facts and advice.

Don't let the fact that this is a college text deter you from purchasing this book. It is an excellent deskside reference that will guide you through real life issues.

As web conferencing and Video over IP become realities, this book establishes the principles for holding any type of virtual meeting. )

This book is a must read for anyone looking to use cybermeetings to improve access to justice and to resolve eCommerce disputes amicably. Anyone in the burgeoning field of web conferencing should learn the constructive lessons of video conferencing from this book.

Jim Keane - JKeane.Com - ABA-LPM eLawyering Task Force