Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Making the Software Business Case: Improvement by the Numbers by Donald J. Reifer ISBN: 0-201-72887-7 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 05 September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The bean-counter skills needed to get a project funded
Comment: This is not a book for software developers or managers who work in a small shop where there is focused development, little formal bureaucracy and a great deal of camaraderie. It is written for the person with responsibility in a large organization who has an idea for a major new project and needs to get it approved. Essentially, it tells you how to survive and thrive in a large organization that builds software.
The advice is fairly simple but quite accurate. Use numbers in your presentation that can be justified and are consistent with any previous numbers that relate to the project. Have solid data concerning the expected return-on-investment (ROI) from the project as well as any additional costs that may not be outwardly obvious. Quite accurately, the author is emphatic about the principles of present and future value. So much so that appendix B is just a set of basic compound interest tables. This is the most important advice that anyone in a large organization with a business case to plead can ever receive.
A lesser, but still critical point is that you must have a manager to champion your proposal through the managerial hierarchy. That champion must also know the expected ROI from the project very well, as upper echelons will consider a lack of knowledge on the part of the champion to reflect a lack of interest. Another point to reckon with is that if you receive the budgetary increase, it most likely means that someone else in your organization had theirs cut. Nasty, but also the way things are.
Finally, the author takes you through a case study as to when you should acquire a company rather than build a new internal division from scratch. His analysis of what to examine and consider significant is a solid strategy for determining which is the better option.
This is a book that really has two audiences, those who are lower level managers in large organizations with an idea for a new project and those who are starting a company and need to convince the people with the money to open their wallets. For them, it is priceless, but for all others it is difficult to see where they will find it of value.
Rating: 5
Summary: Much-needed insights
Comment: Making the Software Business Case: Improvement by the Numbers covers an area too few software engineers have any exposure to: financial modeling and business analysis, as it relates to the IT domain. Reifer's concise (300 page) book provides a broad overview of how the IT area appears from the business side, including critical material on how to frame technical proposals in business terms.
Amongst the many nuggets to be found in this book are:
·useful tips on where money can be found
·good insights into the politics of proposals and budgeting
·getting middle management buy-in
·countering executive challenges
·successful management of cross-project initiative dynamics
·software capitalization/depreciation
·Discussion of reuse from a cost avoidance perspective.
This book is not only good in terms of its material, it is also an eminently readable book in terms of style. Reifer elaborates his argument through the clever use of case studies that provide human interest and momentum to otherwise dry material. These case studies include:
·A defense contracting firm implementing software process improvement
·A public utility replacing an outdated mainframe-based transactional system with modern client-server technology
·An industrial controls firm suffering from moribund products
·A firm seeking to Internet-enable its internal systems
Reifert places strong emphasis on "making your numbers believable." He argues that this believability must address these nontechnical considerations:
·Cash flow
·Cost basis
·Cost/benefit
·Estimate fidelity
·Present value
·Profit and loss
·Risks
·Source of funds
·Tax implications
He does an admirable job in placing these concepts in context, and providing a clear overview of each.
The utility case study demonstrates the importance of understanding the overall financial dynamics affecting one's enterprise. For example, the differences between capital and expense budgets can be key in determining whether to purchase or lease equipment. As Reifert elaborates in the utility scenario, "Because this has been a profitable year, an increase in expenses [i.e. leasing as opposed to purchase capital expenditures] could have a profound positive tax consequence." The book has many examples of this type of valuable, integrated business insight.
Reifer has much sound general IT management advice mixed in with his financial message. A recurring theme through many of the discussions is the need for an executive sponsor, to provide political cover and tactical advice in forwarding the business case.
He also urges the reader to frame benefits in terms of cost avoidance rather than cost reduction-promising cost reductions often lead to the question, "OK, then who are we going to let go?" Not a good way to win friends.
I found his observations on the subject of central process quality assurance groups interesting:
"Reinventing staff organizations such as process and quality assurance groups is a good idea. Engineers assigned to such staff groups get stale once they've put in more than three years of service. Being in an audit and support role, they forget how hard it is to develop and deliver quality products under extreme deadline pressures." (p 137). The book displays a continual awareness of the need to balance these contending issues of cost, schedule, and quality.
The case study based on the industrial controls firm has an explicit architectural theme. This is an especially compelling discussion; software engineers are well aware how critical architectural decisions are, and how often they are compromised in the rush to write code. The discussion demonstrates how to make the case for architecture and include it in an overall work breakdown structure. Reifert is exceptionally creative in his case study creation, taking the opportunity to demonstrate hidden agendas, the pitfalls of contractor estimates, and developing a good working relationship with high-level consultants.
The book provides a solid summary of software estimation. There are whole books written on this subject, so the chapter is necessarily at a high level (although it does dive into some detail on the COCOMO II model in particular). However, it provides a valuable discussion of aspects of high-level IT budgeting beyond tactical project estimation, presenting numerous examples of cost breakdowns covering all phases of the systems development lifecycle, from architecture to maintenance.
The final case study moves into even more adventurous ground, discussing a company seeking to Internet-enable its internal systems via takeover (hostile if necessary) of a specialist firm. The ensuing narrative outlines the due diligence such a move requires, and the various tactical and strategic issues it may raise. A brief discussion of international intercultural relationships is excellent.
The book has only one minor flaw: it was obviously written during the dot-com bubble. There are frequent references to industry dynamics such as a venture-funded firm's survival depending on extreme time-to-market pressures, and perhaps an overemphasis on faddish Web technology.
This book is easily on my Top 10 software engineering book list. It provides a lucid, crisp overview of business issues that are all too mysterious to the average software engineer. Given the potential that well-architected, business-responsive software has to increase productivity, this volume is a service to both the software engineers and the enterprises that employ them.
Rating: 5
Summary: Practical Advice and Useful Examples!
Comment: Don Reifer's book provides information not found in existing books on software engineering, process improvement, and project management. His primary audience is technical people who must sell a project to business people. In particular, he provides concrete, practical advice for selling a process improvement program. For example, Chapter 4 stresses the importance of focusing on cost avoidance instead of cost reduction to justify improvements. In Chapter 7 he suggests briefing middle managers individually to obtain their support. Based on my experience, this is sound advice because middle managers are often the most difficult people to convince in an organization. Giving personal attention to each manager pays big dividends later. He also suggests taking advantage of state tax laws to partially offset the costs of training employees. This is a win-win strategy for both the firm and the state. Training gives employees new skills and improves retention. This, in turn, helps the firm obtain more business and so generate more income for the local economy and more tax revenues for the state. He explains the difference between project and capital funds, and how to exploit this difference to obtain the resources you need. The book has many useful checklists. For example, one identifies the types and sources of information needed to prepare a business case. Another identifies the critical items to check when deciding to acquire a business.
His book will also be of interest to marketing people who are preparing sales presentations for complicated technical products. For example, these individuals could prepare business cases to compare possible alternatives. Even experienced managers unfamiliar with software products and process improvement will find the case studies useful.
Don Reifer illustrates the concepts presented in Part 1 with actual case studies in Part 2. These are based on his 30+ years of experience in the software field. The case study in Chapter 7 begins with what amounts to an engineering view of the problem and then the author provides comments indicating how a manager would like to see the information presented. This case study really shows the contrast between the technical and management ways of thinking. The case study in Chapter 8 shows how to assess the value of a company whose primary assets are intellectual property and knowledge capital.
Overall, the book is concise and well written. I was able to quickly absorb the concepts and techniques without spending a lot of time. It is a valuable addition to my reference shelf.
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
