Managing Software Debt
Home > Computing and Information Technology > Computer programming / software engineering > Software Engineering > Managing Software Debt: Building for Inevitable Change
Managing Software Debt: Building for Inevitable Change

Managing Software Debt: Building for Inevitable Change


     0     
5
4
3
2
1



Out of Stock


Notify me when this book is in stock
X
About the Book

Shipping imperfect software is like going into debt. When you incur debt, the illusion of doing things faster can lead to exponential growth in the cost of maintaining software. Software debt takes five major forms: technical, quality, configuration management, design, and platform experience. In today’s rush to market, software debt is inevitable. And that’s okay—if you’re careful about the debt you incur, and if you quickly pay it back. In Managing Software Debt, leading Agile expert Chris Sterling shows how understanding software debt can help you move products to market faster, with a realistic plan for refactoring them based on experience. Writing for all Agile software professionals, Sterling explains why you’re going into software debt whether you know it or not—and why the interest on that debt can bring projects to a standstill. Next, he thoroughly explains each form of software debt, showing how to plan for it intelligently and repay it successfully. You’ll learn why accepting software debt is not the same as deliberate sloppiness, and you’ll learn how to use the software debt concept to systematically improve architectural agility. Coverage includes Managing tensions between speed and perfection and recognizing that you’ll inevitably ship some “not quite right” code Planning to minimize interest payments by paying debts quickly Building architectures that respond to change and help enterprises run more smoothly Incorporating emergent architecture concepts into daily activities, using Agile collaboration and refactoring techniques Delivering code and other software internals that reduce the friction of future change Using early, automated testing to move past the “break/fix” mentality Scripting and streamlining both deployment and rollback Implementing team configuration patterns and knowledge sharing approaches that make software debt easier to repay Clearing away technical impediments in existing architectures Using the YAGNI (“you ain’t gonna need it”) approach to strip away unnecessary complexity Using this book’s techniques, senior software leadership can deliver more business value; managers can organize and support development teams more effectively; and teams and team members can improve their performance throughout the development lifecycle.

Table of Contents:
Foreword xv Introduction xxi Acknowledgments xxxi About the Author xxxiii Chapter 1: Managing Software Debt 1 Where Does Software Debt Come From? 1 Software Debt Creeps In 3 Software Asset Depreciation 5 Business Expectations Do Not Lessen as Software Ages 12 Summary 14 Chapter 2: Technical Debt 15 Origins of Terminology 16 Patterns of Technical Debt 19 Acknowledging Technical Debt 22 Summary 30 Chapter 3: Sustaining Internal Quality 31 Discipline in Approach 31 Summary 52 Chapter 4: Executable Design 55 Principles of Executable Design 55 Executable Design in Practice 59 Summary 79 Chapter 5: Quality Debt 81 Quality as an Afterthought 81 Indicators of Quality Debt 85 Test Automation 93 Summary 104 Chapter 6: Configuration Management Debt 107 Overview of Configuration Management 108 Responsibilities for Configuration Management 109 Release Management 115 Branching Strategies 123 Documenting Software 126 Summary 128 Chapter 7: Design Debt 131 Robustness 131 The Cost of Not Addressing 135 Changeability 138 Review Sessions 146 Summary 150 Chapter 8: Designing Software 153 Application Design 153 Team Tools for Effective Design 163 Summary 171 Chapter 9: Communicating Architectures 173 The Three Levels of Architecture Perspective 173 Architecture Is S.A.I.D. 178 Modeling 186 Summary 188 Chapter 10: Technology Evaluation Styles 191 The Need for Technology Evaluation 191 When to Conduct Technology Evaluations 196 Summary 198 Chapter 11: Platform Experience Debt 199 Defining Platform Experience 199 Sharing Knowledge 203 Collaborative Team Configurations 206 Importance of Relevant Experience 217 Summary 219 Appendix: What Is Agile? 221 Index 229

About the Author :
Chris Sterling, Partner at Sterling Barton, LLC, works with widely diverse clients as a technology, management, and Agile consultant. A Certified Scrum Trainer and Innovation Games Facilitator, he has created—and continues contributing to—multiple open source projects. He has been a speaker at many conferences and events, including Agile conferences, Better Software, SD West, Scrum Gatherings, and PNSQC. He teaches the Advanced Topics in Agile Software Development course for the University of Washington’s Agile Developer Certificate extension program.

Review :
"If you work in technology, you're probably familiar with terms like 'technical debt.' The metaphor seems easy, but using it to influence change can be remarkably hard. To do that, you're going to want to present options to decision makers, backed up by evidence. I've been impressed watching Chris Sterling research and refine his work in just this area for several years, and I'm pleased to see him release it as a book. If you want to go beyond cliches to talk about how to deal with the problem of software debt, this is the seminal work in the field-and it's also the book for you." -Matthew Heusser, Software Process Naturalist "Inertia: It's what restricts change and leads to a cost of making a change or starting a change after a period of no investment or maintenance. This book explains in great detail what the different types of debt are that lead to inertia and, ultimately, to a cost to the business in managing software maintenance and development. The richness of explanation in this book of how to manage the virtual debt that every business incurs is unmatched. Every business-focused CIO, enterprise architect, software architect, or project manager should have a copy." -Colin Renouf, Enterprise Architect "Software debt is an important concept and Sterling does a sterling job of explaining what it is, why it is bad, and how to avoid it. A healthy dose of theory sprinkled with lots of pragmatic examples." -Roger Sessions, CTO, ObjectWatch (objectwatch.com) "Chris Sterling's experience in Agile architecture and his focus on software debt make this book a must-read for architects and engineers on Agile teams." -Jan Bosch, VP Engineering Process, Intuit "This book offers highlights and shortcomings of managing inherited software code and the debts that come with quality software. The author offers a unique perspective on dealing with software development issues. A must-read for all software developers." -Leyna Cotran, Institute for Software Research, University of California, Irvine "The vital importance of rapid feedback to the software process is a fundamental premise of modern software methods. When such feedback is quantified in the form of software debt, the software process becomes most effective. Chris Sterling's book holds the details you need to know in order to quantify the debt and pay it back. Moreover, it will teach you how to avoid debt in the first place." -Israel Gat, The Agile Executive (theagileexecutive.com and on Twitter at @agile_exec) "This book represents a wonderful opportunity for a larger community to take advantage of Chris's many years of experience and his innovative approaches to Agile architecture and continuous quality... His book distills many of his principles and techniques into practical guidelines, and he manages to convey very powerful ideas in accessible prose, despite the inherent complexity of architecture and technical debt... Chris's book will help architects, leaders, and teams see their way to better systems and better organizational performance." -Evan Campbell, Founder of Chinook Software Consulting


Best Sellers


Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780321948618
  • Publisher: Pearson Education (US)
  • Publisher Imprint: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc
  • Height: 100 mm
  • No of Pages: 288
  • Spine Width: 100 mm
  • Weight: 100 gr
  • ISBN-10: 0321948610
  • Publisher Date: 16 Oct 2013
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Sub Title: Building for Inevitable Change
  • Width: 100 mm


Similar Products

Add Photo
Add Photo

Customer Reviews

REVIEWS      0     
Click Here To Be The First to Review this Product
Managing Software Debt: Building for Inevitable Change
Pearson Education (US) -
Managing Software Debt: Building for Inevitable Change
Writing guidlines
We want to publish your review, so please:
  • keep your review on the product. Review's that defame author's character will be rejected.
  • Keep your review focused on the product.
  • Avoid writing about customer service. contact us instead if you have issue requiring immediate attention.
  • Refrain from mentioning competitors or the specific price you paid for the product.
  • Do not include any personally identifiable information, such as full names.

Managing Software Debt: Building for Inevitable Change

Required fields are marked with *

Review Title*
Review
    Add Photo Add up to 6 photos
    Would you recommend this product to a friend?
    Tag this Book Read more
    Does your review contain spoilers?
    What type of reader best describes you?
    I agree to the terms & conditions
    You may receive emails regarding this submission. Any emails will include the ability to opt-out of future communications.

    CUSTOMER RATINGS AND REVIEWS AND QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TERMS OF USE

    These Terms of Use govern your conduct associated with the Customer Ratings and Reviews and/or Questions and Answers service offered by Bookswagon (the "CRR Service").


    By submitting any content to Bookswagon, you guarantee that:
    • You are the sole author and owner of the intellectual property rights in the content;
    • All "moral rights" that you may have in such content have been voluntarily waived by you;
    • All content that you post is accurate;
    • You are at least 13 years old;
    • Use of the content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use and will not cause injury to any person or entity.
    You further agree that you may not submit any content:
    • That is known by you to be false, inaccurate or misleading;
    • That infringes any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy;
    • That violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising);
    • That is, or may reasonably be considered to be, defamatory, libelous, hateful, racially or religiously biased or offensive, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing to any individual, partnership or corporation;
    • For which you were compensated or granted any consideration by any unapproved third party;
    • That includes any information that references other websites, addresses, email addresses, contact information or phone numbers;
    • That contains any computer viruses, worms or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
    You agree to indemnify and hold Bookswagon (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.), harmless from all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of a breach of your representations and warranties set forth above, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.


    For any content that you submit, you grant Bookswagon a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell, transfer, and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology throughout the world without compensation to you. Additionally,  Bookswagon may transfer or share any personal information that you submit with its third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc. in accordance with  Privacy Policy


    All content that you submit may be used at Bookswagon's sole discretion. Bookswagon reserves the right to change, condense, withhold publication, remove or delete any content on Bookswagon's website that Bookswagon deems, in its sole discretion, to violate the content guidelines or any other provision of these Terms of Use.  Bookswagon does not guarantee that you will have any recourse through Bookswagon to edit or delete any content you have submitted. Ratings and written comments are generally posted within two to four business days. However, Bookswagon reserves the right to remove or to refuse to post any submission to the extent authorized by law. You acknowledge that you, not Bookswagon, are responsible for the contents of your submission. None of the content that you submit shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Bookswagon, its agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners or third party service providers (including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.)and their respective directors, officers and employees.

    Accept

    New Arrivals


    Inspired by your browsing history


    Your review has been submitted!

    You've already reviewed this product!