Catastrophe Disentanglement
Getting Software Projects Back on Track |
| Author
|
E. M. Bennatan |
| Publisher |
Addison-Wesley
[http://www.awprofessional.com] |
| ISBN |
0321336623 |
| Published |
2006-04 |
| Price |
39.99 USD |
| Features |
[280 pages] [CDROM]
[Site: http://books.internet.com/books/0321336623]
|
| Abstract |
Have you ever been on a project that just seemed to never end or that seemed to have derailed at some point?
|
| Rating |
5
|
| Reviewer |
Bradley L. Jones |
| Categories | gen, mgmt |
|
The name of the book alone makes it worth a second look!
Have you ever been on a project that just seemed to never end? Scope creeping out of control, end users changing specifications, deadlines that simply couldn't be met, project managers that didn't have a clue, code reviews that went bad, outsourcers that missed the point... I bet some of these sound familiar to some of the projects you've been a member.
I've seen projects that seemed to spin out of control. Most of the time the issues were addressed by throwing more developers on the project and cutting requirements. Other times, the schedules were simply extended for additional months, or even years.
Have you been on a project that finally met its death?
Projects have issues.
Let's face it, most projects that have multiple people involved tend to run into issues. While throwing time, people, or money at the project may help alleviate the issues, they may only be a fix for symptoms rather than a problem. What is needed is the ability to step back from a project and evaluate what is really causing the issues and to determine what really can fix them.
In Catastrophe Disentanglement, that is exactly what the author presents - A guideline for stepping back and evaluating what is really happening so that you have a chance to really fix the issues and get a project back on track - or to simply save it.
This book provides a 10-step approach for working through troubled projects. Is this book revolutionary? No. In fact, if you've worked on a lot of projects, chances are you will already know a lot of what the book states. Regardless, sometimes it is good to simply read about it and bring it to the forefront of your thinking. At only about 250 pages, this book is not an encyclopedic tomb, but rather a source you can read relatively fast to gain its insights. If you do one or two person projects, then this book won't be as valuable; however, if you are a project lead on medium to large sized projects, then this book is worth the time, even if to revisit things you should already know.
