Software Runaways: Monumental Software Disasters
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.67 (839 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 013673443X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-10-09 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Failure often teaches more than success. This book shows what went wrong in 16 of the worst software disasters of recent years -- and shows how to prevent your own software disasters.Software failure expert Robert Glass reviews the major software disasters of the past decade, including both widely-publicized and less well-known fiascoes. He identifies six characteristics of impending failure, including elements rarely discussed in other software engineering texts, such as the overdependence on new technology and the failure to adequately consider performance issues. Among the failures Glass discusses are: the FAA's Air Traffic Control System; American Airlines' Confirm; and Bank of America's MasterNet. Most important, Glass presents specific lessons to be learned from each of
Read the entire review of this book. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that a good portion of the book (half?) consists of articles culled from print media of widely ranging technicality (from IEEE Software to Computerworld to the Wall Street Journal). One of the thoughts that sprang to my mind when I read Software Runaways by Robert Glass is that it is a good thing for the book, the author, and the publishing house that the world operates by Adam Smith's theories, where value is determined by supply and demand, instead of Karl Marx's, where value is determined by the work done. Dobb's Journal -- Dr. Dobb's Journal. Perhaps that is a little too harsh, as Glass surely had to spend considerable time and energy compiling his articles, asking for permission to print, and lining
ROBERT L. GLASS is an author and consulting on software quality issues who has written more than 10 books on the topic. He owns his own company, Computing Trends, and writes a column on Software Engineering for ACM Communications Magazine.
Stephen J. Friedl said Disappointing, not very technical, and of sporadic interest. After reading the other reviews of this book, I expected to find a light read more likened to "America's Most Shocking Police Videos", but I was mostly disappointed.The first series of articles on the Denver airport debacle (reportedly they set out to build the largest airport in the country but ended up with second-largest airport in Denver) made virtually no reference to software. The contractors of the baggage system ran into problems with physical access to the terminal, changing requirements, and uncooperative City off. Very interesting for what it is. A Customer Know what you're getting when you buy this book! This book isn't a remedy book. Mostly, its about "famous software runaways", that is, projects that have made it into the mainstream media. It does talk about why those projects fail, but there is only one chapter on that, and its not the meat of the book. Also the descriptions are from a non-technical point of view, and are generally reprints from other sources. Buy this book if: A. You are a computer professional, and you want to know what really happened with the Denver ba. A Customer said poor rehash of famous big-budget disasters. This book's subtitle is "Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures." A more accurate subtitle would be "Assortment of InformationWeek articles written about costly failures that involved software." This is a shallow and superficial book. There is no original research, no original reporting, and no deep analysis.Sometimes there are three separate articles on the same failed software project! This is pointless repetition, not any type of deeper analysis. It's like reading a xeroxed collection of articles, except