Publisher's Synopsis
High-quality software demands high-quality management. That's the subject of Quality Software Management, a four-volume series that has grown out of acclaimed author Gerald M. Weinberg's forty-year love affair with computers.
In Volume 1, Systems Thinking, the author tackles the first requirement for developing quality software: learning to think correctlyabout problems, solutions, and quality itself. He also sets out guidelines that stimulate the kind of thinking needed. "Act early, act small" is key to staying in control of the software process. Managers need to serve as both planners and catalysts within the organization: to continually plan what to do, observe what happens, and then act decisively to bring the actual closer to the planned. Numerous examples illustrate "control points," areas that can be managed to prevent a crisis or to keep one from getting worse.
Topics include:
* understanding quality
* pressure and breakdowns
* software cultures
* patterns of quality
* patterns of management
* feedback effects
* the size/complexity dynamic in software engineering
* detecting failures and reacting to them
* fault resolution dynamics
* the role of customers.
Useful diagrams, references, exercises, and a bibliography augment the text.
