The Economics of Iterative Software

Results-Based Software Management: Achieve Better Outcomes with Finite Resources Effective software development is no longer merely an IT concern: today, it is crucial to the entire enterprise. However, most businesspeople are not ready to make informed decisions about software initiatives.The Economics of Iterative Software Development: Steering Toward Better Business Resultswill prepare them. Drawing on decades of software development and business experience, the authors demonstrate how to utilize practical, economics-based techniques to plan and manage software projects for maximum return on technology investments. The authors begin by dispelling widespread myths about software costs, explaining why traditional, "engineering-based" software management introduces unacceptable inefficiencies in todayrs"s development environments. Next, they show business and technical managers how to combine the principles of economics and iterative development to achieve optimal results with limited resources. Using their techniques, readers will learn how to build systems that enable maximum business innovation and process improvementand implement software processes that allow them to do so consistently. Highlights include How to repeatedly quantify the value a project is delivering and quickly adjust course as needed How to reduce software project size, complexity, and other "project killers" How to identify and eliminate software development processes that donrs"t work How to improve development processes, reduce rework, mitigate risk, and identify inefficiencies How to create more proficient teams by improving individual skills, team interactions, and organizational capability Where to use integrated, automated tools to improve effectiveness What to measure, and when: specific metrics for project inception, elaboration, construction, and transition The Economics of Iterative Software Development: Steering Toward Better Business Resultswill help both business and technical managers make better decisions throughout the software development processand it will help team and project leaders keep any project or initiative on track, so they can deliver more value faster.

Walker Royce, vice president of IBM's Rational Services, has managed many large software projects, consulted with many software development organizations, and developed innovative approaches to software management. He is author of Software Project Management (Addison-Wesley). Kurt Bittner, CTO for the Americas at Ivar Jacobson Consulting, has twenty-seven years' software experience in roles ranging from developer and project manager to architect and business leader. He coauthored Use-Case Modeling and Managing Iterative Software Development Projects (both from Addison-Wesley). Mike Perrow, writer and editor for IBM Software Group, is founding editor of The Rational Edge online magazine.

Preface	p. xiii
About the Authors	p. xvii
The Software-Driven Economy	p. 1
The Challenge of Software Project Management	p. 3
The High Stakes in Software Development	p. 4
Institutional Focus	p. 5
Traditional Software Project Management	p. 7
Problems with the Waterfall Approach	p. 8
Summary	p. 11
Achieving Results: The Case for Software Economics	p. 13
Iterative Development	p. 15
Benefits of the Results-Based Approach	p. 16
The Mark of Success	p. 18
Summary	p. 19
Improving Software Development Economics	p. 21
Trends in Software Economics	p. 23
A Simplified Model of Software Economics	p. 24
Software Engineering: A 40-Year History	p. 26
Keys to Improvement: A Balanced Approach	p. 28
Summary	p. 30
Reducing Software Project Size or Complexity	p. 33
Managing Scope	p. 33
Reducing the Size of Human-Generated Code	p. 35
Improving Reuse Using Service-Oriented Architectures	p. 36
Summary	p. 36
Improving the Development Process	p. 39
Project Processes	p. 39
Using an Iterative Process	p. 40
Attacking Significant Risks Early	p. 43
Improve Practices Incrementally to Meet Goals	p. 46
Summary	p. 48
Improving Team Proficiency	p. 51
Enhancing Individual Performance	p. 52
Improving Project Teamwork	p. 52
Advancing Organizational Capability	p. 55
Summary	p. 57
Improving Automation Through Integrated Tools	p. 59
Improving Human Productivity	p. 60
Eliminating Error Sources	p. 61
Enabling Process Improvements	p. 62
Summary	p. 63
Accelerating Culture Change Through Common Sense	p. 65
Profiles of Successful Organizations	p. 65
Keys to Success	p. 67
Lower-and Middle-Level Managers Are the Key Performers	p. 68
Requirements, Designs, and Plans Are Fluid and Tangible	p. 69
Ambitious Demonstrations Are Encouraged	p. 69
Good and Bad Project Performance Is Much More Obvious Earlier in the Lifecycle	p. 70
Early Iterations Will Be Immature	p. 70
Detailed and Complete Artifacts Are Less Important Early, More Important Later	p. 71
Real Issues Surface and Get Resolved Systematically	p. 71
Quality Assurance Is Everyone's Job, Not a Separate Discipline	p. 72
Investments in Automation Are Viewed as Necessary	p. 72
Recommendation: Select the Right Project, the Right People, and the Right Goals	p. 73
Summary	p. 73
Practical Measurement For Software Engineering	p. 77
A Practical View of Software Development Metrics	p. 79
Measurements and Goals	p. 80
Variability and Goals	p. 80
Measurement and Iterative Development	p. 81
When Measurement Goes Wrong	p. 83
What's Wrong with Detailed Up-front Planning?	p. 85
Deciding What to Measure, Phase by Phase	p. 86
Summary	p. 87
What to Measure in the Inception Phase	p. 89
Assessing Financial Viability	p. 90
Assessing Technical Viability and Estimating Overall Project Cost	p. 91
Iteration in the Inception Phase	p. 93
Other Measures	p. 94
Summary	p. 96
What to Measure in the Elaboration and Construction Phases	p. 99
Measurement in the Elaboration Phase	p. 99
Measuring Risk Reduction	p. 102
Measuring Progress	p. 104
Measurement in the Construction Phase	p. 106
Measuring the Project Backlog	p. 107
Measuring Test Coverage	p. 107
Measuring Build Stability	p. 108
Expected Progress Trends in the Construction Phase	p. 109
Summary	p. 110
Elaboration Phase	p. 110
Construction Phase	p. 111
What to Measure in the Transition Phase	p. 113
Measurement in the Transition Phase	p. 114
What to Measure	p. 115
Analyzing Trends and Assessing Test Results	p. 116
Other Considerations Affecting Releasability	p. 117
Concluding the Transition Phase	p. 118
Summary	p. 119
Measuring Projects Embedded in Programs	p. 123
Organizing Projects into Programs	p. 124
Measuring Program Stages	p. 127
Summary	p. 127
Appendix Getting Started with Iterative Project Management	p. 129
Embarking on Your First Iterative Project	p. 130
Why Iterate?	p. 130
Potential Barriers to the Adoption of Iterative Practices	p. 132
Communicating the Goals of Change	p. 135
Determining the Pace of Change	p. 137
Dealing with Skepticism	p. 138
Starting with Just Iterative Development	p. 139
Bootstrapping an Iterative Project	p. 141
Keeping Going	p. 143
Adopting an Iterative Approach Iteratively	p. 144
Understanding Where to Start	p. 144
Improving Practices Iteratively	p. 146
Learning by Doing	p. 149
The Role of Coaching	p. 151
Using the Iteration Plan to Provide a Roadmap for Change	p. 153
Conclusion	p. 154
Suggested Reading	p. 157
Index	p. 161
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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The Economics of Iterative Software Development Steering Toward Better Business Results

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