Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules

Corporate and commercial software-development teams all want solutions for one important problem―how to get their high-pressure development schedules under control. In RAPID DEVELOPMENT, author Steve McConnell addresses that concern head-on with overall strategies, specific best practices, and valuable tips that help shrink and control development schedules and keep projects moving. Inside, you’ll find:

• A rapid-development strategy that can be applied to any project and the best practices to make that strategy work
• Candid discussions of great and not-so-great rapid-development practices―estimation, prototyping, forced overtime, motivation, teamwork, rapid-development languages, risk management, and many others
• A list of classic mistakes to avoid for rapid-development projects, including creeping requirements, shortchanged quality, and silver-bullet syndrome
• Case studies that vividly illustrate what can go wrong, what can go right, and how to tell which direction your project is going
• RAPID DEVELOPMENT is the real-world guide to more efficient applications development.

Steve McConnell is recognised as one of the premier authors and voices in the development community. He is Chief Software Engineer of Construx Software and was the lead developer of Construx Estimate and of SPC Estimate Professional, winner of Software Development magazine's Productivity Award. He is the author of several books, including Code Complete and Rapid Development, both honored with Software Development magazine's Jolt Award.