How to Fail at Software Development

Rating:
Summary: For some comedy only
Review: Get this book only for using as a good source of entertainment. That is pretty much all that I got from it. It was pretty funny, but I could not find any useful information for my day to day programming job. The book gives you some pretty bad stories and the very dark view of software development, but it should not be taken 100% to heart, a lot of things in this book, if followed, will just continue on our software development mess that we are in.

If you are look for some good jokes about software development, go ahead and buy this book. If you are looking for some good information on what to expect, do not buy it, it will just get you depressed.

Rating:
Summary: Presenting the most common mistakes and how to avoid them
Review: How To Fail At Software Development: The Most Common Causes Of Project Failure is a no-nonsense outline of the most common causes of software project failures. Presenting the most common mistakes and how to avoid them, as well as case stories of fascinating disasters and what can be learned, examples of time-consuming performance tests virtually guaranteed not to find bugs, bureaucratic rules that seem helpful but in reality will stymie software development, and much more, How To Fail At Software Development is an absolute "must-read" for amateur and professional programmers alike, and especially their managers. A fascinating, down-to-earth assessment of very real problems and reasons why anywhere from one third to ninety percent of software projects are doomed.

Rating:
Summary: Been there, seen that!
Review: I don't recall ever working at the same place as the author but everything he writes about I have seen. The author gives many examples of what is wrong with the current development methods. There could be less "Software Development" failures if this book was required reading for everyone before a project started.