New from Dorset House:
Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk
on Software Projects
by TOM DEMARCO and
TIM LISTER
"Pearls of wisdom . . ."
– Ed Yourdon
Download three sample
chapters in pdf format.
To order at a 20% discount follow
this link to Amazon.com.
If There's
No Risk On
Your Next Project, Don't Do It
Greater risk brings greater reward, especially in software
development. A company that runs away from risk will soon find itself
lagging behind its more adventurous competition. By ignoring the threat
of negative outcomes—in the name of positive thinking or a can-do
attitude—software managers drive their organizations into the ground.
In Waltzing with Bears,
Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister—the best-selling authors of Peopleware—show
readers how to identify and embrace worthwhile risks. Developers are then
set free to push the limits.
The authors present the benefits of risk management, including the following:
- risk management makes aggressive risk-taking possible
- it protects management from getting blindsided
- it provides minimum-cost downside protection
- it isolates the failure of a subproject.
Readers are armed with strategies for confronting the most common risks
that software projects face: • schedule flaws • requirements
inflation • turnover • specification breakdown • and under-performance.
Waltzing with Bears will help you
mitigate the risks—before they turn into project-killing problems.
Risks are out there—and they should be there—but there is a
way to manage them.
Insight from the Book:
"Running away from risk is a no-win proposition. Sometimes you come
across a project that looks positively risk-free. In the past, you may
have looked at such an endeavor as a 'slam dunk' and thanked your lucky
stars to be given an easy project for a change. We've had the same reaction.
What dummies we were. Those projects weren't worth doing at all."
Here's what the reviewers had to say:
"DeMarco and Lister do a good, lively, commonsense job of presenting
their subject. If committing to do risk management means committing
to read something about it, then this book would be an excellent starting
place."
—Robert L. Glass
The Software Practitioner
"Reading Tom Demarco and Tim Lister is a pleasure. It is so clear
that these two authors set out to teach something they believe to be
valuable, and all of their effort is directed toward making that valuable
thesis accessible to the reader. . . . Their explanations are always
clear. Their examples are invariably both helpful and entertaining.
"What they have to say is always
important. Waltzing with Bears is no exception . . . their arguments
will force you to think about critical aspects of management that you
may not have previously considered.
". . . It's a terrific book."
—Justin Kodner
posted on Amazon.com
"The authors, consultants in risk and management, show how to
identify and embrace worthwhile risks in software development and offer
strategies for common risks that software projects face, such as schedule
flaws, requirements inflation, and specification breakdown."
—Book News, Inc.
ÒThe collaborative effort of Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, Waltzing
with Bears: Managing Risk On Software Projects is a hard-hitting guide
to braving greater risks for greater rewards in the exciting, challenging,
competitive, and rapidly advancing field of software development. From
advice on the pros and cons of risk management techniques; to successful
value quantification; to tests for risk management and knowing when
to go back to basics, Waltzing with Bears is a very savvy guide especially
recommended for experienced entrepreneurs who know their specialized
markets and want a better feel for when and what would be an acceptable
risk in pursuit of marketplace success.Ó
– The Midwest Book Review (June 2003)
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