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Practical Guide to Software Quality Management (Artech House Computer Science Library)
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Author: John W. Horch
List Price: $72.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0890068658
Publisher: Artech House (July, 1996)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 146,927
Average Customer Rating: 4 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 3 out of 5
Decent, but Shallow Coverage of a Broad Topic
As stated in the introduction: "This book is a primer for those who need to understand the concepts as well as the value of software quality management...It is not intended to be a reference for the experienced software quality practitioner or the definitive text on how to accomplish all the software quality tasks available today." I agree with that statement. I found the coverage of each element to be shallow. I kept wanting more details from the author, but that would contradict with the intent of the book stated in the intro.
Horch identifies the aspects of a Software Quality System in the first chapter and elaborates upon them in a logical, sequential manner in the rest of the book. He ends with several outlines based on or adapted from IEEE standards. The thing that I disagree with the most is the author's statement in the Preface that "The audience for this book includes those who have been charged with the responsibility of creating and implementing a total software quality system in their organizations." The problem is that those people will already have a good understanding of the material presented in this book and as such, the book adds nothing to assist them in implemtating a software quality system beyond what they already have. I've gone back and forth between rating this book three or four stars. While I agree with the elements of a software quality system and their need I believe that this book fails to meet its goals.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Blueprint for 'building' a quality organization
After I finished reading this 259-page book I kept thinking of how it was organized and how the author presented the material. Although I have been exposed to, and worked within, quality frameworks throughout my 25-year career this book triggered a clarity that brought together the essence of an effective quality program. This happened when I drew an analogy between the book's contents and approach, and constructing a building.First, the book starts with a chapter titled "Elements of a Complete Software Quality System," which is the foundation. It then covers what I think of as the building blocks: standards, reviews, testing, defect analysis, configuration management and software documentation. It then fills in gaps, much like mortar, by covering associated quality concerns. Each of these "building blocks" and the "mortar" are thoroughly discussed in separate chapters. The actual construction comes in the final chapter titled "Quality System Implementation". This book is copiously illustrated and the writing is straightforward. Although my analogy may be somewhat distracting, nothing in this book is - each chapter stays focused on its topic and goes into considerable depth. The author provides you with a solid foundation, quality materials and a blueprint for creating an effective quality organization, and does so in 259 pages. This book earns five stars for the influence it had on my thinking, and has my highest recommendation.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Practical and easy to put in use
+ve points: Gives practical guidelines to develop your own quality assurance plan. Useful for small to medium size projects. -ve points: SEI-CMM should have been covered in greater detail. an introduction to 6-sigma would have been useful. Not scalable to larger projects.
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