Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0133562670 ISBN 13: 9780133562675

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2014

Superior software productivity requires a relentless focus on people, motivation, and communication. In Improving Software Development Productivity,   world-renowned software engineering expert Dr. Randall W. Jensen introduces a proven, quantitative approach to achieving this focus. Jensen helps you measure your organization’s capacity and productivity, and then use that information to improve multiple facets of developer and team performance, and to build more accurate estimates and schedules.

 

Focusing on management as the principal cost and schedule driver in software projects, he demonstrates a powerful tool based on his Jensen II (Seer) model: the model that underlies many leading software estimation tools. Through real case studies, you’ll learn how to predict the productivity impact of any major management decision, and quantitatively support a transition to “extreme” or “agile” software development environments.

 

For decades, Jensen has been the industry’s go-to expert on improving software project productivity. This book distills his insights and gives you the tools and knowledge to apply them.

 

This book will help you

• Recognize the centrality of communication and culture, and translate this awareness into quantitative improvements
• Predict the impact of changes in personnel, management style, development environments, product constraints, and technologies
• Optimize decision making throughout a project’s lifecycle, and avoid counterproductive changes
• Understand modern estimating models and parameters, so you can apply them more effectively
• Formulate more accurate and useful estimates with leading tools such as Sage, REVIC, COCOMO II, and SEER-SEM
• Maintain firmer control over costs and timeframes in agile or extreme project environments

 

Register your book for access to the Capability Calculator, a Microsoft Excel tool created by the author and based on the Jensen II (Seer) model. Go to informit.com/title/9780133562675.

 

About the Author:

Randall W. Jensen, Ph.D., started his career working to improve software productivity at Hughes Aircraft Company’s Space and Communications Group where he developed a pioneering computer model for estimating cost and schedule for any large project, measuring organization capability and quantitatively predicting the productivity impact of management decisions. In 1979, Jensen and Charles Tonies illuminated key software productivity attributes in their book, Software Engineering. Throughout his career Jensen continues his research on productivity leading to his improved computer-based estimating model, which is still used today.

 

Review:

“Most progressive organizations strive to increase their overall performance by inserting either advanced technologies or tight processes. What tends to be missed is the enlightened leader that can motivate and build an environment that leverages the technology and processes introduced. Some processes and technologies allow excellent teams to excel, and some processes and technologies prevent the mediocre from failing. It is the enlightened leader who can tell which approach is required and then build an environment that maximizes a team’s performance. This book incorporates that ability into the discussion and effectively includes it in the quantitative process in assessing the organization’s productivity potential.”

—Gregory H. Mikkelsen, Integrated Defense Systems, Raytheon