Under Pressure and on Time

This book details common sense approaches to different aspects of software development - from defining requirements to development to software testing - that are too often overlooked or undervalued in many software shops. I am a developer, but the book contains a wealth of practical tips and techniques for project managers, developers, QA team members, and functional managers. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in software development that is looking for ways to improve the quality of the software they deliver. I never write reviews, but for me this book ranks up there with Steve McConnell's Code Complete as one of those books that I am constantly referring to in an ongoing effort to improve my ability to develop quality software.

This was a great book outlining many of the things a company did to succeed while under pressure. I enjoyed the "Back at Work" sidebars, annecdotes about how they applied the techniques in this book.

I received Under Pressure and On Time as a gift and read through it in a weekend. I found it funny and full of practical solutions for my own development team. The chapter on "scheduling" addressed most all of my particular challenges with terrific ideas. I plan to keep a copy and pass along a copy.

Ed Sullivan's summary of the practices that work at NuMega are a must read for any software development organization. Sure, a lot of the comments are just common sense, but from my experiences, they are rarely practiced. The project management section is trivial, obvious and better covered in other references. The details of the steps and the overall process that NuMega has successfully used are the valuable part of the text. Things like insisting on daily builds, test automation, and parallel development are the little gems that can keep you on a schedule. A lot of people and books talk about this stuff, but few organization, (in my experience) manage to actually follow these methods. I think I would have liked working for Ed at NuMega.

An excellent book! This book boils down the essentials of software development for leaders who need to manage software projects without a lot of overhead. As it said, it doesn't try to explain everything - but the coverage is broad enough to take you through the development cycle. It also relates a lot of real-world stories to show the principles in action and I found them helpful and could use some at work. It's not an academic book but rather a summary of what has worked well elsewhere. It's more like a case-study meant for leaders who need to see the forest through the trees.