Managing and Leading Software Projects

Citation

Howard, W.R. (2010), "Managing and Leading Software Projects", Kybernetes, Vol. 39 No. 5, pp. 844-844. https://doi.org/10.1108/03684921011043305

Very few projects in almost any field and most certainly in cybernetics and management science, do not involve software projects. Our first call when faced with developing a project is to search for relevant software packages to avoid the costly and time‐consuming process of development and final testing and evaluation. This is a book that will help those who almost inevitably will require to manage their own development or play a part in its planning. This will include all the basic procedures of software management which are covered in the author Richard Fairly's book. As well as planning the project, it needs estimates, measurements, control, communication between all parties, and, of course, an assessment of managing risk. Many of these principles of project management are not simply separate entities but are integrated with others. Techniques and methods are needed which may range from the well‐tried traditional ones to those such as the waterfall method or to the iterative ones and the incremental build evolutionary techniques.

What the project developers need is guidance and sound references to the methodology and the practice that is available. In this book, the author sets out to give guidance on the project process.

The chapters are well arranged and each has an appendix which details many of the references needed such as IEEE/ISO standards PMI body of knowledge and other relevant information. Carefully planned, it provides an excellent guide to those who are faced with the daunting task of managing and leading software projects, but also an interesting and informative account of the process to those who are responsible for overall funding and direction of the organisation.