Japan's Software Factories: A Challenge to U.S. Management Review

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Japan's Software Factories: A Challenge to U.S. Management ReviewThis is one of the earliest in a series of books that Cusumano has written on software technology. In this book he cries "Wolf!": the Japanese are so much better at industrial strength software development than Americans, they have a "software factory", etc., etc.
In his subsequent books, especially those on Microsoft and Netscape, Cusumano slowly discovers that the traditional software development process, requirements/specifications/code, etc., e.g. the waterfall model, is *NOT* the model adopted by successful software companies (and, indeed, not the model adopted by many hardware companies). He learns that designs are not something to be churned out by a factory - indeed, if they can be churned out, then they should be reusing exactly the same software.
In some ways the packaged software industry, e.g. Microsoft, supplanted the custom software industry in this timeframe, the time of the PC; Microsoft's process, which Cusumano calls "synchronize and stabilize", may be considered to be JIT (Just In Time) software specification and development. Or, if not Just In Time, As Soon As Possible and No Earlier than Necessary.
While I cannot agree with the conclusions of this book, it is interesting to have on one's bookshelf, to see the evolution of the author's thought over time.Japan's Software Factories: A Challenge to U.S. Management OverviewThough Japan has successfully competed with U.S. companies in the manufacturing and marketing of computer hardware, it has been less successful in developing computer programs. This book contains the first detailed analysis of how Japanese firms have tried to redress this imbalance by applying their skills in engineering and production management to software development. Cusumano focuses on the creation of "software factories" in which large numbers of people are engaged in developing software in cooperative ways--i.e. individual programs are not developed in isolation but rather utilize portions of other programs already developed whenever possible, and then yield usable portions for other programs being written. Devoting chapters to working methods at System Developing Corp., Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, and Fujitsu, and including a comparison of Japanese and U.S. software factories, Cusumano's book will be important reading for all people involved in software and computer technology, as well as those interested in Japanese business and corporate culture.

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Built to Love: Creating Products That Captivate Customers Review

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Built to Love: Creating Products That Captivate Customers ReviewI have long understood the importance of putting customer desire up front when developing new products. "Built to Love" has given me several new tools to help capture and ponder what our customers might respond to. More importantly, the book has given us a better way to TALK about how our designs will be experienced by the user and what we might change to heighten that experience. Excellent examples from across a wide range of products give the reader a way to personalize the material.
"Built to Love" is that rare business book that offers insights and techniques that can be applied immediately.Built to Love: Creating Products That Captivate Customers Overview

Built to Love reveals how companies can create captivating products that energize the marketplace and set the standard for what customers want and expect. Firms often hope the answer is to produce the latest high technology devices – only to find that they fail to light up the marketplace. Or firms rely on ads that overstate or mislead, leaving the customer disappointed and disillusioned. Instead, a deeper emotional engagement between the customer and product is required, regardless of whether the products are physical products, services, technologies, software, systems, or brands.

Using a combination of industry-based research and laboratory experiments, the authors demonstrate that customers will richly pay for products that authentically provide emotional fulfillment. They uncover the science behind successful products that create an avid and loyal following, and they present evidence that product emotions increase a product's success in the marketplace as well as a firm's success in the stock market (even when the economy is down!).

A practical how-to guide, the book next shows how to analyze customers' emotional needs and translate those needs into features that galvanize customers. Throughout, the book uses revealing case studies that show how to energize customers in both consumer and business-to-business worlds, in both large and small firms.


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Next Generation Product Development : How to Increase Productivity, Cut Costs, and Reduce Cycle Times Review

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Next Generation Product Development : How to Increase Productivity, Cut Costs, and Reduce Cycle Times ReviewReview of:
"Next Generation Product Development" by Michael E. McGrath
The last paragraph of Michael E. McGrath's newest book "Next Generation Product Development" boldly states that "product development has never been for the faint of heart." And I suspect that most everyone who has ever been involved in such activities will quickly shake their head "yes" to this "truth" statement, and quietly wish there was a better way. Fortunately in his new book McGrath guides us to this better way--a way that offers "more opportunity and promise for getting better new products to market faster, WHILE DOING MORE WITH LESS." The claim is nothing short of a renaissance of product development capability.
I like this book a lot. I like the multi-faceted emphasis on integration. I like the productivity theme and the need for new management processes. And I like the idea that we are only beginning the renaissance of product development capability, especially given the growth of collaborative development.
I confess that I do not like the continued use of the DCM abbreviation (it stands for "development chain management.)" But I suppose I can learn to live with another "alphabet name" because it does get to the heart of the matter--how to manage a lot of INTERDEPENDENT projects, all of which are going on at the same time. Of particular importance are McGrath's thoughts involving a "networked team," new concepts which I think will be fundamental to tomorrow's successful product development.
To join this renaissance, exactly where does one begin? McGrath offers three entry points: changes in resource management, changes in project management, or changes in strategy management. I suppose someone will try all three at once, but frankly just one is probably a lot for an organization to swallow. For different entry points McGrath offers us guidance, with levels of maturity assessments and/or stages of implementation. But even still, there is a lot of material to assimilate and multiple readings of many book sections will be needed to fully comprehend his recommendations.
However I suggest that you don't spend an excessive amount of time studying. Organizations mainly learn by doing, and this book lays out the "learn by doing" path toward success. Past generations of development have emphasized invention, project management, or time-to-market. This next generation is a path toward productivity within the entire development enterprise. It is a path toward "better decision making, better investment in R&D, better return on that investment, more collaboration with external partners, and true empowerment of development activity."
I suggest that you buy the book and begin.
Nils L. Dailey
N.L. Dailey AssociatesNext Generation Product Development : How to Increase Productivity, Cut Costs, and Reduce Cycle Times Overview
A Hands-on manager's guide to making the most of today's product development breakthroughs

A quarter century after MRP first transformed the global manufacturing arena, Next Generation Product Development stands poised to similarly impact new product development. This movement-defining book gives R&D professionals an in-depth explanation of the ways in which companies are able to achieve substantially higher levels of development productivity, while better aligning product development with strategy through new practices and systems.

Processes explored in Next Generation Product Development, and enabled by cutting-edge new-enterprise software, promise to explode the possibilities of what product development professionals can accomplish. This hands-on practitioner's guidebook will:

Establish a common set of frameworks and concepts
Introduce new project portfolio and product strategy management practices
Help R&D professionals increase productivity by 30 to 50 percent


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The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad Review

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The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad Review---> To swing for the fence, entrepreneurs must avoid the shark-infested red water and sail into the deep blue sea.
If you're even thinking of creating a software startup, I highly recommend you read The Business of Software as soon as possible. Doing so will save you much pain and suffering from senseless mistakes. When there is such a large body of existing knowledge, there is no cause for trial and error mentality. There's plenty of other opportunities for trailblazing. Read this book as a bare minimum before starting your venture.
Cusumano, offers an in depth study of what it takes to succeed in software. Of particular value are critical questions to contemplate:
1) Do you want to be mainly a Products company, or a Services company?
2) Do you want to sell to Individuals, or Enterprises | Mass market, or Niche market?
3) How horizontal (broad) or vertical (specialized)is your product or service?
4) Can you generate a recurring revenue stream that will endure both good and bad times?
5) Will you target mainstream customers, or do you have a plan to avoid the chasm?
6) Do you plan on being a Leader, Follower, or Complementor?
7) What kind of character do you want your company to have?
Cusumano also offers eight Critical Success Factors that are necessary for Software Start-ups to succeed as a business and raise investor money:
1) Strong Management Team
2) An Attractive Market
3) A Compelling New Product, Service, or Hybrid Solution
4) Strong evidence of Customer Interest
5) A Plan to Overcome the "Credibility Gap"
6) A Business Model Showing Early Growth and Profit Potential
7) Flexibility in Strategy and Product Offerings
8) The Potential for Large Payoff to Investors
Don't reinvent the wheel. Read this book as soon as possible, preferably "before" you create that software venture you so boldly dreamed.
Michael Davis, ByvationThe Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad OverviewThe world's leading expert on the global software industry and coauthor of the bestseller Microsoft Secrets reveals the inner workings of software giants like IBM, Microsoft, and Netscape and shows what it takes to create, develop, and manage a successful company -- in good times and bad -- in the most fiercely competitive business in the world. In the $600 billion software industry it is the business, not the technology, that determines success or failure. This fact -- one that thousands of once glamorous start-ups have unhappily discovered for themselves -- is the well-documented conclusion of this enormously readable and revealing new book by Michael Cusumano, based on nearly twenty years of research and consulting with software producers around the world. Cusumano builds on dozens of personal experiences and case studies to show how issues of strategy and organization are irrevocably linked with those of managing the technology and demonstrates that a thorough understanding of these issues is vital to success. At the heart of the book Cusumano poses seven questions that underpin a three-pronged management framework. He argues that companies must adopt one of three basic business models: become a products company at one end of the strategic spectrum, a services company at the other end, or a hybrid solutions company in between. The author describes the characteristics of the different models, evaluates their strengths and weaknesses, and shows how each is more or less appropriate for different stages in the evolution of a business as well as in good versus bad economic times. Readers will also find invaluable Cusumano's treatment of software development issues ranging from architecture and teams to project management and testing, as well as two chapters devoted to what it takes to create a successful software start-up. Highlights include eight fundamental guidelines for evaluating potential software winners and Cusumano's probing analysis, based on firsthand knowledge, of ten start-ups that have met with varying degrees of success. The Business of Software is timely essential reading for managers, programmers, entrepreneurs, and others who follow the global software industry.

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Product Release Planning: Methods, Tools and Applications Review

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Product Release Planning: Methods, Tools and Applications ReviewRuhe's book is truly excellent and comprehensive. He address the breadth of the decisions required for product releases from prioritizing features to staffing and practically everything in between. He also brings very sophisticated methods into the process.
For example, the collection of desired features in planning for a release is particularly difficult. There are usually many different voices competing for the development resources and there are limitations on both budget and schedule. The investor's voice (usually a sponsor) addresses time-value of money. The developer's voice who is concerned that product architecture addresses concerns for product support and maintainability. The customer's voice may be several different value systems. Marketing is interesting in features that yield high product margins. End users are interested in transaction volume and learning requirements. Their bosses are interested in the performance of their respective businesses. Ruhe describes a decision process that identifies different collections of features rather than strictly feature by feature. Each collection meets budget and / or schedule constraints but each collection is as different as possible by the collection of the stakeholder values. This allows stakeholders to better understand the necessary compromises to improve the value of their selection.
I would declare this book a "must read" for leaders of product development organizations.Product Release Planning: Methods, Tools and Applications OverviewBusiness success hinges on successfully creating products with the right features. You must correctly analyze the needs of the customer and match these needs with your resources to not only produce a product and but also deliver it in a timely manner. An in-depth understanding of systematic release planning can put you on this path. Authored by renowned expert Günther Ruhe, Product Release Planning: Methods, Tools and Applications presents methods and tools to apply sound planning to product development and product management.The book covers the different aspects of supporting product release decisions ranging from foundations to methods, tools, and applications. Equal parts art and science, the actual decision-making is described as a process of combining rigorous methods with the intuition and experience of human experts. Ruhe provides a guided tour through the methodology and use of release planning, starting with technology and market needs and proceeding to product planning and finally to development projects. He studies three fundamental classes of problems: prioritization of features, product release planning on a strategic level (roadmapping), and release planning on an operational level (staffing).Presenting and discussing tool support for all the methods covered, the author supplies case studies that underpin the methodologies with practical examples. He also supplies trial accounts (read only) for the two most important decision tools for prioritization and product release planning. The author freely admits that the techniques presented are not supposed to be the ultimate truth, but a direction to go to support human decision-making, to better understand the rational of the decisions made, and to grow in the capability of mastering the whole planning process.About the Author: Günther Ruhe holds an Industrial Research Chair in Software Engineering at University of Calgary. His main results and publications are in software engineering decision support, product release planning, project management, as well as measurement, simulation, optimization and empirical research for software-based systems. From 1996 until 2001 he was deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He has comprehensive experience in industry collaboration projects and is the Founder and CEO of Expert Decisions Inc. Dr. Ruhe is a member of the ACM, the IEEE Computer Society and the German Computer Society GI.

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