Rapid Development - Taming Wild Software Schedules

If you wrestle with development mileposts and deadlines, this book can show you the tested strategies and tactics you need to keep your projects on time and on budget. In the tradition of McConnell`s bestselling Code Complete, Rapid Development brings together the best research and hard-won experience to help you get control of your development projects.

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:

• The best rapid-development strategies that can be applied to any project
• 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 in which direction your project is headed

Case Studies ..... ix
Reference Tables ..... x
Preface ..... xiii

PART I : EFFICIENT DEVELOPMENT
Welcome to Rapid Development ..... 1
What Is Rapid Development?
Attaining Rapid Development
Rapid-Development Strategy ..... 5
General Strategy for Rapid Development
Four Dimensions of Development Speed
General Kinds of Fast Development
Which Dimension Matters the Most?
An Alternative Rapid-Development Strategy
Further Reading
Classic Mistakes ..... 29
Case Study in Classic Mistakes
Effect of Mistakes on a Development Schedule
Classic Mistakes Enumerated
Escape from Gilligan's Island
Further Reading
Software-Development Fundamentals ..... 51
Management Fundamentals
Technical Fundamentals
Quality-Assurance Fundamentals
Following the Instructions
Further General Reading
Risk Management ..... 81
Elements of Risk Management
Risk Identification
Risk Analysis
Risk Prioritization
Risk Control
Risk, High Risk, and Gambling
Further Reading

PART II : RAPID DEVELOPMENT
Core Issues in Rapid Development ..... 109
Does One Size Fit All?
What Kind of Rapid Development Do You Need?
Odds of Completing on Time
Perception and Reality
Where the Time Goes
Development-Speed Trade-Offs
Typical Schedule-Improvement Pattern
Onward to Rapid Development
Further Reading

PART III : BEST PRACTICES..... 390
Organization of Best-Practice Chapters
Summary of Best-Practice Candidates
Summary of Best-Practice Evaluations
Change Board ..... 403
Daily Build and Smoke Test .....405
Designing for Change ..... 415
Evolutionary Delivery ..... 425
Evolutionary Prototyping ..... 433
Goal Setting..... 445
Inspections ..... 447
Joint Application Development (JAD)..... 49
Lifecycle Model Selection ..... 465
Measurement ..... 467
Miniature Milestones ..... 481
Outsourcing ..... 491
Principled Negotiation ..... 503
Productivity Environments ..... 505
Rapid-Development Languages (RDLs) .....515
Requirements Scrubbing ..... 525
Reuse ..... 527
Signing Up ..... 539
Spiral Lifecycle Model ..... 547
Staged Delivery ..... 549
Theory-W Management ..... 559
Throwaway Prototyping ..... 569
Timebox Development ..... 575
Tools Group ..... 585
Top-10 Risks List ..... 587
CASE STUDIES
2-1. Rapid Development Without a Clear Strategy ..... 6
2-2. Rapid Development with a Clear Strategy ..... 25
3-1. Classic Mistakes ..... 29
4-1. Lack of Fundamentals ..... 52
5-1. Lack of Contractor Risk Management ..... 82
5-2. Systematic Risk Management ..... 103
6-1. Wandering in the Fuzzy Front End ..... 124
7-1. Ineffective Lifecycle Model Selection ..... 134
7-2. Effective Lifecycle Model Selection ..... 159
8-1. Seat-of-the-Pants Project Estimation ..... 164
8-2. Careful Project Estimation .....200
9-1. A Successful Schedule Negotiation ..... 229
10-1. The Requirements Club .....234
10-2. The Requirements Club Revisited ..... 246
11-1. A Disheartening Lunch with the Boss ..... 250
11-2. A Highly Motivational Environment ..... 270
12-1. You Call This a Team? ..... 274
12-2. A High-Performance Team ..... 277
12-3. Typical Team-Member Selection ..... 282
12-4. A Second High-Performance Team .....294
13-1. Mismatch Between Project Objectives and Team Structure ..... 297
13-2. Good Match Between Project Objectives and Team Structure ..... 315
14-1. Managing Change Effectively ..... 342
15-1. Ineffective Tool Use ..... 346
15-2. Effective Tool Use ..... 368
16-1. An Unsuccessful Project Recovery ..... 372
16-2. A Successful Project Recovery ..... 385

REFERENCE TABLES
2-1. Characteristics of Standard Approaches to Schedule-O