Book Review - Ship it!: A Practical Guide to Software Projects
I finished reading Ship it!: APractical Guide to Software Projects, it's always a good feeling when you finish reading a book, a sense of accomplishment.
Here is a link to some free excerpts to see if it might interest you.
The book itself is not really very long at around 200 pages but in some ways this is good because it means you can read it and there isn't too much waffle. It fits in very much in the pragmatic programmers book style and if you have read any of these books you will know what I mean but unfortunately I can't really describe it. It maybe something to do with the book being on the small side but you can buy the book quite cheaply if you are willing to purchase it second from Amazon, you can pick it up for about 10 pounds.
The book is not about coding as such and avoids being language specific. I think this is a good idea because the ideas it talks about are more generic and can be used in a number of programming languages.
I shall steal Amazon's description of the book rather than type out my version
In the middle of the book it focuses quite a bit on the soft issues of managers, programmers, salesman. I found this bit a tad boring but perhaps this might be more interesting to managers or people who are running teams. I found the bits about build automation, using a list and other things very interesting and easy to read.
The bit I found very interesting is the tracer bullet technique of programming which is basically the method of splitting up the work into layers and getting different teams to agree on interfaces to each layer, plug them all in with skeleton code and work from there. This and another article I read inspired me to write this blog entry on method stubs and skeleton code
I have to say I did enjoy reading the book as a whole, there are a couple of slow bits, the talking about people, managers etc and the last section on common problems and how to fix them. The other parts of the book I really learnt new ideas and was inspired enough to think about trying to bring them in, which is pretty good going as I am fairly busy/lazy. The ideas are still there and given the opportunity I will be sneaking them in. Some of the ideas in this book I am already using and have my list to work from.
Overall it's well worth £10-15 quid and once you have finished reading it you can sell it or give it some other member of your development.
Here is a link to some free excerpts to see if it might interest you.
The book itself is not really very long at around 200 pages but in some ways this is good because it means you can read it and there isn't too much waffle. It fits in very much in the pragmatic programmers book style and if you have read any of these books you will know what I mean but unfortunately I can't really describe it. It maybe something to do with the book being on the small side but you can buy the book quite cheaply if you are willing to purchase it second from Amazon, you can pick it up for about 10 pounds.
The book is not about coding as such and avoids being language specific. I think this is a good idea because the ideas it talks about are more generic and can be used in a number of programming languages.
I shall steal Amazon's description of the book rather than type out my version
Ship It! is a collection of tips that show the tools and techniques a successful project team has to use, and how to use them well. You'll get quick, easy-to-follow advice on modern practices: which to use, and when they should be applied. This book avoids current fashion trends and marketing hype; instead, readers find page after page of solid advice, all tried and tested in the real world.Aimed at beginning to intermediate programmers, Ship It! will show you:
* Which tools help, and which don't
* How to keep a project moving
* Approaches to scheduling that work
* How to build developers as well as product
* What's normal on a project, and what's not
* How to manage managers, end-users and sponsors
* Danger signs and how to fix them
This is one of a growing number of books about what I refer to as Development rather than Programming. This book in particular focuses on developing software projects in a team, this is probably where it is a bit different from similar books. It talks about simple processes to make developing a project easier, things like setting up build automation, a list to work from, quick 10 minute developer meetings, tracking bugs.
In the middle of the book it focuses quite a bit on the soft issues of managers, programmers, salesman. I found this bit a tad boring but perhaps this might be more interesting to managers or people who are running teams. I found the bits about build automation, using a list and other things very interesting and easy to read.
The bit I found very interesting is the tracer bullet technique of programming which is basically the method of splitting up the work into layers and getting different teams to agree on interfaces to each layer, plug them all in with skeleton code and work from there. This and another article I read inspired me to write this blog entry on method stubs and skeleton code
I have to say I did enjoy reading the book as a whole, there are a couple of slow bits, the talking about people, managers etc and the last section on common problems and how to fix them. The other parts of the book I really learnt new ideas and was inspired enough to think about trying to bring them in, which is pretty good going as I am fairly busy/lazy. The ideas are still there and given the opportunity I will be sneaking them in. Some of the ideas in this book I am already using and have my list to work from.
Overall it's well worth £10-15 quid and once you have finished reading it you can sell it or give it some other member of your development.
posted by The Hosk at
4:24 pm
1 Comments:
I also read the book recently and I must say that it was a fast but extremely boring read. If you're a .NET developer then half of the tools disgussed in the book is bundled with Visual Studio or has become obsolete in some other way. I've read a lot of books about programming and development and this book is probably the first one with nothing to show. It sounds a bit harsh, I know, and sure there is some good things in it. The problem is that it is only for beginners but it claims to be for a more advanced audience.
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Anonymous, at Mon Oct 16, 06:04:00 pm 2006
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