Making the Software Business Case : Improvement by the Numbers

"Just the understanding and insights you will pick up about how people encounter and cope with combinations of technical, social, political, and economic opportunities and challenges make the book a joy to read and worth much more than the price of it alone."
--Barry Boehm, from the Foreword

This practical handbook shows you how to build an effective business case when you need to justify--and persuade management to accept--software change or improvement. Based on real-world scenarios, the book covers the most common situations in which business case analyses are required and explains specific techniques that have proved successful in practice. Drawing on years of experience in winning the "battle of the budget," the author shows you how to use commonly accepted engineering economic arguments to make your numbers "sing" to management.

The book provides examples of successful business cases; along the way, tables, tools, facts, figures, and metrics guide you through the entire analytic process. Writing in a concise and witty style, the author makes this valuable guidance accessible to every software engineer, manager, and IT professional.

Highlights include:

• How and where business case analyses fit into the software and IT life cycle process
• Explanations of the most common tools for business case analysis, such as present-value, return-on-investment, break-even, and cost/benefit calculation
• Tying the business process to the software development life cycle
• Packaging the business case for management consumption
• Frameworks and guidelines for justifying IT productivity, quality, and delivery cycle improvement strategies
• Case studies for applying appropriate decision situations to software process improvement
• Strategic guidelines for various business case analyses

With this book in hand, you will find the facts, examples, hard data, and case studies needed for preparing your own winning business cases in today's complex software environment.

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Donald J. Reifer is the president of Reifer Consultants, Inc., a firm that specializes in helping clients implement changes that are financially justified. During his more than 30 years of industry and government experience, he has grown businesses, managed major projects, led recovery teams, and implemented improvement strategies globally. Most important, he has helped clients sell change based on the numbers. His numerous other publications include several popular books on software management.

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