More Process Patterns
Delivering Large-Scale Systems Using Object Technology
Cambridge University Press/SIGS Books, 1999 ISBN#: 0-521-65262-6
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More Process PatternsDelivering Large-Scale Systems Using Object TechnologyCambridge University Press/SIGS Books, 1999 ISBN#: 0-521-65262-6 |
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Organizations have moved beyond the pilot
project stage and are now using object technology to build
large-scale, mission-critical business applications.
Unfortunately they are finding that the processes which proved so
successful on small, proof-of-concept projects do not scale very
well for real-world development. Today’s organization needs
a collection of proven techniques for managing the complexities
of large-scale, object-oriented software development projects, a
collection of process patterns. A process pattern (see
An Introduction
To Process Patterns White Paper)
describes a collection of general techniques, actions, and/or
tasks for developing object-oriented software. An important
feature of a process pattern should be that it describes what
should be done but not the exact details of how it is done.
The object-oriented software process (OOSP) presented in this
book, a continuation of Process Patterns, is a pattern
language that is geared toward medium to large-size organizations
that need to develop software that support their main line of
business. I have chosen to describe the OOSP as a collection of
process patterns that have been proven in practice: they are not
the theoretical musings of an ivory-tower academic who has never
built an application. The OOSP provides a framework which
addresses issues such as how to:
1. Covers the second of of the software process -- the
Deliver phase and the Maintain and Support phase.
2. Satisfies the demands of large-scale, mission-critical
software.
3. Geared towards the development of business applications, not
the development of software tools.
4. Provides proven advice based on experience, not academic
theory.
5. Indicates how the entire object-oriented software process
(OOSP) works together
6. Provides detailed discussion of the project and cross-project
tasks (see below for a list)
7. Provides valuable advice for using process patterns to tailor
a mature software process for your organization.
8. It is written by a software developer for software developers.
9. It is written in straightforward, easy to understand language.
10. Uses the industry standard
Unified
Modeling Language(UML) for all models.
11. Provides a significantly more comprehensive view of the
software process than the Unified Process, providing techniques
which can be easily adapted to
extend
and complete the Unified Process.
This book, along with Process Patterns, actively attacks several myths of the object industry.
First, the belief that object development is a purely iterative
process is questionable at best. Although this might appear to be
true for small pilot projects using OO technology, the reality
for large-scale, mission-critical applications is that the OO
development process is serial in the large and iterative in the
small, delivering incremental releases over time.
Second, this book also disproves the myth that you can do less
testing when you use OO technology. The reality is that the exact
opposite is true, you need to do more. One of my fundamental
beliefs, a belief shared by the vast majority of professional
software engineers, is that testing and quality assurance should
be performed throughout the entire development process, not just
at the end of it. Furthermore, the reality of incremental
development is that you need to perform more regression testing
than with single-shot, "big-bang" development.
Third, this book disproves the myth that we only need to be
concerned with development issues while building an application.
The reality is that the concerns of maintenance and support are
just as important, if not more so, than those of development. The
OOSP explicitly includes both maintenance and support as part of
the project life cycle, so as to put it in the face of everyone
involved in the development process. There is a saying in the
computer industry: A good developer knows that there is more to
development than programming, a great developer knows that there
is more to development than development.
Fourth, I hope that this book disproves the myth that processes
only result in needless paper work. My experience has been that
process patterns, when applied intelligently, increase the
productivity of developers. My experience has also been that when
process patterns are applied less-than-intelligently, that when
the paper pushers have too much influence in an organization, can
decrease your productivity. The process patterns presented in the
book have been proven to work in practice, how you choose to
implement them will determine how successful you are.
Organizations that keep the end goal in mind – that of
developing, maintaining, and supporting software that fulfills
the needs of their user community – will be successful with
process patterns. Those that follow processes simply for the sake
of following processes are likely to fail.
So what does this book cover? First of all, it
is organized by the third and fourth serial phases of OO
development: the Deliver phase and the Maintain and Support
phase. Second, each phase is then divided further into its
iterative stages. As a result, the book is organized into the
following chapters:
As I describe each serial phase and iterative stage throughout the book I address a series of project and cross-project tasks that are crucial to your success. These tasks are:
For the most part this book is geared towards senior object developers, project managers, information technology executives. Senior object developers will find that process patterns provide a framework for organizing their work and for increasing their productivity. Project managers will find this book an excellent reference for managing a large-scale development effort, and information technology executives will find it an excellent source of insight as to how to make long-term development successful.
By reading More Process Patterns you will gain a thorough understanding of how the entire object-oriented development process works. Furthermore you will gain a detailed understanding of the Deliver phase and the Maintain and Support phase of OO development in a coherent and consistent manner.
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Copyright
© 1998-2007
Scott W. Ambler Last updated: March 31, 2007 |
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