Developing Software to Government Standards

This book is all about 2167a, which has long since been retired and is a dim memory. Most of us who remember the 2167a learned valuable lessons that have served us well long after the 2167a was retired and replaced by DOD-498, which in turn has been replaced by commercial standards. The lessons, in the form of an approach to software engineering that eliminates risks, should not be forgotten, making this book a valuable addition to any serious software engineer's library even. What I like is the many ideas in the standard, which the author has highlighted and succinctly described, which can be refactored into modern processes and procedures. Also, don't let the waterfall model that was embodied in the 2167a deter you from this book because much of the material can be aligned to spiral or rapid development life cycle models.This book is not for everyone, but is is a gem for those of us who want to search for established best practices from the past and ressurect the best of those practices and give them a face life. To me this book is practically worth its weight in gold.

While this book contains a good overview of government documentation standards and how they benefit the development of software, there is a lack of examples of a complete document. This book is certainly no match for the actual documentation standards provided by the dod, but for a great start in generating documentation standards, this book is it.