Jim McCarthy wrote a book called “Dynamics of Software Development”.\u00a0 If you don’t own it, you should.<\/p>\n
I believe it was published in 1995, and I think I read it in 1996.\u00a0There is little reason for you to do anything else until you get this book and read it.<\/p>\n
He has an updated version published in 2006.\u00a0 The 2006 version includes a CD of Jim’s\u00a023 1\/2 Rules of Thumb (For Shipping Great Software On Time.)<\/p>\n
You can find this book used for about 1 cent for the 1995 version, and about 2 dollars for the 2006 version.\u00a0 You have to pay shipping – but still, for 5 or 6 bucks you can get a lot good, old fashioned, unconventional wisdom.\u00a0 I paid full price for both, and it was well worth it.<\/p>\n
If you think the stuff I say is worthwhile, you just might like this book.\u00a0 If you hate the stuff I say, then this book will give you even more great stuff to hate.<\/p>\n
Even without taking into consideration how old this book is (almost 20 years!\u00a0) most of his insights are extemely relevent and useful (and downright powerful)\u00a0if you are doing\u00a0software development.\u00a0 A few concepts might need to be updated for changes in technology, and some of\u00a0it has been surpased\u00a0by modern Agile thinkging (in my opinion),\u00a0but overall it’s valuable reading.<\/p>\n