Developing Software to Government Standards

Rating:
Summary: Still useful
Review: This book is all about 2167a, which has long since been retired and is a dim memory. Most of us who remember the 2167a learned valuable lessons that have served us well long after the 2167a was retired and replaced by DOD-498, which in turn has been replaced by commercial standards. The lessons, in the form of an approach to software engineering that eliminates risks, should not be forgotten, making this book a valuable addition to any serious software engineer's library even. What I like is the many ideas in the standard, which the author has highlighted and succinctly described, which can be refactored into modern processes and procedures. Also, don't let the waterfall model that was embodied in the 2167a deter you from this book because much of the material can be aligned to spiral or rapid development life cycle models.

This book is not for everyone, but is is a gem for those of us who want to search for established best practices from the past and ressurect the best of those practices and give them a face life. To me this book is practically worth its weight in gold.

Rating:
Summary: Still useful
Review: This book is all about 2167a, which has long since been retired and is a dim memory. Most of us who remember the 2167a learned valuable lessons that have served us well long after the 2167a was retired and replaced by DOD-498, which in turn has been replaced by commercial standards. The lessons, in the form of an approach to software engineering that eliminates risks, should not be forgotten, making this book a valuable addition to any serious software engineer's library even. What I like is the many ideas in the standard, which the author has highlighted and succinctly described, which can be refactored into modern processes and procedures. Also, don't let the waterfall model that was embodied in the 2167a deter you from this book because much of the material can be aligned to spiral or rapid development life cycle models.

This book is not for everyone, but is is a gem for those of us who want to search for established best practices from the past and ressurect the best of those practices and give them a face life. To me this book is practically worth its weight in gold.

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful (quite beside government standards)
Review: This is an old book (it seems like an update is coming up though), whose usefulness reaches far beyond the immediate needs of those working on government contracts. The documentation/tracking/mental process laid out in the book (including a large set of specific document templates; about half a book, really) can serve as a realistic model to be gainfully used in *any* environment, really; not only when government related. With total chaos frequently predominating in engineering companies (which tend to be informal, if my experience is not totally off base somehow), every manager, and to tell the truth, everyone, will learn a few simple but effective approaches to planning and controlling his work. No need to adhere exactly to the model described in this manual; just take it as a starting point, an example that you can then modify, trim, or extend as you wish -- this already will save you quite a bit of effort. I recommend grabbing a copy of this book w/o thinking twice. And btw, it's a very easy read; the book looks thick, but it's a bit deceptive, because about a half of it is document outlines and layouts (very useful.)

If I were to find something to criticize here, it would have to be writing and editing. The author, clearly, is an experienced and knowledgeable professional, but using English to make himself clear is not his forte. He's not outrageous, but he is frequently faulty. Editing is supposed to fix such things, but it's clear that Prentice-Hall didn't do squat -- this book sports the whole Strunk-and-White collection of usage snafus: affect/effect; can not/cannot; principal/principle -- you name it, it's all in there. In that respect, the book could serve as a clinker workbook to be sold with style guides. (The author's web site, btw, demonstrates the same; the man has no writing ability yet he seems to be evading the editor as a matter of principle. This does irritate a bit; you don't want to have your brain pelted with verbal turds.)

No other complaints though! Overall, it is a very worthy tome. If you deal with documentation in any form, get it.

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to the world of government standards
Review: While this book contains a good overview of government documentation standards and how they benefit the development of software, there is a lack of examples of a complete document. This book is certainly no match for the actual documentation standards provided by the dod, but for a great start in generating documentation standards, this book is it.