Matt Stephens

From the beginning of software time, people have wondered why it isn’t possible to accelerate software projects by simply adding staff. This is sometimes known as the “nine women can’t make a baby in one month” problem. The most famous treatise declaring this to be impossible is Fred Brooks’ 1975 book The Mythical Man-Month, in which he declares that “adding more programmers to a late software project makes it later,” and indeed this has proven largely true over the decades. Aided by a domain-driven code generator that quickly creates database and API code, Parallel Agile (PA) achieves significant schedule compression using parallelism: as many developers as necessary can independently and concurrently develop the scenarios from initial prototype through production code. Projects can scale by elastic staffing, rather than by stretching schedules for larger development efforts. Schedule compression with a large team of developersworking in parallel is analogous to hardware acceleration of compute problems using parallel CPUs. PA has some similarities with and differences from other Agile approaches. Like most Agile methods, PA "gets to code early" and uses feedback from executable software to drive requirements and design. PA uses technical prototyping as a risk-mitigation strategy, to help sanity-check requirements for feasibility, and to evaluate different technical architectures and technologies. Unlike many Agile methods, PA does not support "design by refactoring," and it doesn't drive designs from unit tests. Instead, PA uses a minimalist UML-based design approach (Agile/ICONIX) that starts out with a domain model to facilitate communication across the development team, and partitions the system along use case boundaries, which enables parallel development. Parallel Agile is fully compatible with the Incremental Commitment Spiral Model (ICSM), which involves concurrent effort of a systems engineering team, a development team, and a test team working alongside the developers. The authors have been researching and refining the PA process for several years on multiple test projects that have involved over 200 developers. The book’s example project details the design of one of these test projects, a crowdsourced traffic safety system.

From the beginning of software time, people have wondered why it isn’t possible to accelerate software projects by simply adding staff. This is sometimes known as the “nine women can’t make a baby in one month” problem. The most famous treatise declaring this to be impossible is Fred Brooks’ 1975 book The Mythical Man-Month, in which he declares that “adding more programmers to a late software project makes it later,” and indeed this has proven largely true over the decades. Aided by a domain-driven code generator that quickly creates database and API code, Parallel Agile (PA) achieves significant schedule compression using parallelism: as many developers as necessary can independently and concurrently develop the scenarios from initial prototype through production code. Projects can scale by elastic staffing, rather than by stretching schedules for larger development efforts. Schedule compression with a large team of developersworking in parallel is analogous to hardware acceleration of compute problems using parallel CPUs. PA has some similarities with and differences from other Agile approaches. Like most Agile methods, PA "gets to code early" and uses feedback from executable software to drive requirements and design. PA uses technical prototyping as a risk-mitigation strategy, to help sanity-check requirements for feasibility, and to evaluate different technical architectures and technologies. Unlike many Agile methods, PA does not support "design by refactoring," and it doesn't drive designs from unit tests. Instead, PA uses a minimalist UML-based design approach (Agile/ICONIX) that starts out with a domain model to facilitate communication across the development team, and partitions the system along use case boundaries, which enables parallel development. Parallel Agile is fully compatible with the Incremental Commitment Spiral Model (ICSM), which involves concurrent effort of a systems engineering team, a development team, and a test team working alongside the developers. The authors have been researching and refining the PA process for several years on multiple test projects that have involved over 200 developers. The book’s example project details the design of one of these test projects, a crowdsourced traffic safety system.

Billy has had enough of his classmates treating him differently. But then Mia arrives and announces a school visit from her uncle: a famous footballer. Maybe being a star footballer in front of his classmates will help Billy prove to his class that he can be just like them. But when even the famous footballer turns out to be just as bad as the school bullies, Billy begins to realise that perhaps he doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone but himself.

How engaged are your employees, really? Companies talk about `employee engagement' and they accept its importance, yet strangely, they adopt out-dated methods when analysing and measuring this engagement. A leading engagement expert offers a new framework for taking the genuine pulse of a company - so that leaders and management can truly understand how their people are feeling and know what actions to take that result in better performance. Based on making results instantly and transparently available, and then determining with employees the real factors that lie within their feelings, managers can more easily assess the way they need to approach an issue. If, as the cliche goes, `people are a company's greatest asset', then ensuring their close engagement is essential for any company. This book argues powerfully for a radical new approach to employee engagement, based on understanding the minds and emotions of the people who work in organizations.

"Dear Chloe, My Supplies Are Gone The water, the matches, dry clothes... The Food It's all gone I figure it's three hundred miles from the last place someone saw me or my car enough to identify me... And it's a good bet nobody even knows I'm in danger.Oh god, Chloe; I'm going to die up here." *** No tools. No food. No help. Sam was on his way Far North to spend the winter with a loved one; but disaster on his trip leaves him miles from civilization. Forced to fend for himself in the deep wilderness, his only way out is to complete the journey he started.He has nothing but the clothes on his back. With miles of rugged terrain ahead, lethal cold, and a hostile predator stalking his every step, Sam will be tested in ways he's never had to face before.His only companion on this long journey is his journal, in which he keeps the record of his ordeal, and pours his heart out to the woman he loves; and must find his way to, if he is to have any hope of survival. From the Author of 'The Lostkind' and 'The Ark-Hive', "Dear Chloe," is an exciting story of survival and adventure.

Four Short Stories of the Speculative and Wild... Mister Fix-It: The Trial of the Century begins without anyone knowing it, as a man is accused of stealing and dealing 'expert skills', like they were any other Drug. Nobody believes it;s possible... at first. The Welcome Back Diner: For his entire life, Tobias has had a favorite Diner. But it only appears when he needs it. With and impossible cast of characters and food that can change lives; it's good to know there's one place where he'll always be Welcome Back. Lighthouse: In a world where ships sail the sky instead of the ocean, it is the Sacred Duty of the Lighthouse Keepers to keep them all in the air as they chart their course across the treacherous mountains. But that doesn't mean there's no room for adventure, or a little business on the side... Read To Me: A young boy who cannot read, and a young girl who cannot understand fingerpaints. but together, connected by something they don't understand, they show each other a wonderful, creative world. But when tragedy strikes, this lifelong partnership is put to the ultimate test... What The Readers Are Saying: "Such an imaginative tale." "Skillfully written" "I love this author."

Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML: Theory and Practice shows how to drive an object-oriented software design from use case all the way through coding and testing, based on the minimalist, UML-based ICONIX process. In addition to a comprehensive explanation of the foundations of the approach, the book makes extensive use of examples and provides exercises at the back of each chapter. This book leads by example. It demonstrates common analysis and design errors, shows how to detect and fix them, and suggests how to avoid making the same errors in the future. The book also encourages you to examine its UML examples and to search for specific errors. You'll get clues, then later receive the answers during review sessions toward the end of the book.

Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML: Theory and Practice shows how to drive an object-oriented software design from use case all the way through coding and testing, based on the minimalist, UML-based ICONIX process. In addition to a comprehensive explanation of the foundations of the approach, the book makes extensive use of examples and provides exercises at the back of each chapter. This book leads by example. It demonstrates common analysis and design errors, shows how to detect and fix them, and suggests how to avoid making the same errors in the future. The book also encourages you to examine its UML examples and to search for specific errors. You'll get clues, then later receive the answers during review sessions toward the end of the book.

The groundbreaking book Design Driven Testing brings sanity back to the software development process by flipping around the concept of Test Driven Development (TDD)—restoring the concept of using testing to verify a design instead of pretending that unit tests are a replacement for design. Anyone who feels that TDD is “Too Damn Difficult” will appreciate this book. Design Driven Testing shows that, by combining a forward-thinking development process with cutting-edge automation, testing can be a finely targeted, business-driven, rewarding effort. In other words, you’ll learn how to test smarter, not harder. Applies a feedback-driven approach to each stage of the project lifecycle. Illustrates a lightweight and effective approach using a core subset of UML. Follows a real-life example project using Java and Flex/ActionScript. Presents bonus chapters for advanced DDTers covering unit-test antipatterns (and their opposite, “test-conscious” design patterns), and showing how to create your own test transformation templates in Enterprise Architect.

Shawnie is the story of the Brewer family - Ma Lisa, brother Jason and daughter Shawnie, plus Lisa's so-called lover Steve. Over the course of an intense summer, they each tell their own off-kilter version of events. Shawnie, just 13, dreams of a normal life: a lock on the bathroom door, clean clothes for school and no wild parties with her Ma as the star turn. A 'diamond of a girl', she tries to keep the family in order. But prostitution, drink and violence are eating away at them all, leading towards a horror that's almost too much to bear.

This book describes how to apply the ICONIX Process (a minimal, use-case driven modeling process) in an agile software project. It’s full of practical advice for avoiding common “agile” pitfalls. Further, the book defines a core agile subset—so those of you who want to “get agile” need not spend years learning to do it. Instead, you can simply read this book and apply the core subset of techniques. The book follows a real-life .NET/C# project from inception and UML modeling, to working code—through several iterations. You can then go on-line to compare the finished product with the initial set of use cases. The book also introduces several extensions to the core ICONIX Process, including combining Test-Driven Development (TDD) with up-front design to maximize both approaches (with examples using Java and JUnit). And the book incorporates persona analysis to drive the project’s goals and reduce requirements churn.

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX merges the faultless visual layout tools of Dreamweaver and the powerful yet easy-to-use database integration offered by UltraDev into a product that is simply the most vital piece of software any web designer can own. Unlike many other books, Foundation Dreamweaver MX concentrates on both sides of this alliance, looking to the future. No matter what your background, this book will give you a solid foundation in graphic design and layout issues as well as a full grounding in the powerful database integration features that Dreamweaver MX offers. The truth is that database integration is no more of an extra in today's climate than faultless visual design, and this book is here to guide you through this new world, covering dynamic scripting with PHP and the popular MySQL database. This book is suitable for both PC and Mac (OS X needed) platforms. Book Info:Strong emphasis on Foundation treatment. Includes key concepts and skills. Provides a case study throughout the book to reinforce the learning in a realistic application. Softcover. From the Publisher Whether a complete novice or a past user, after reading this book, youíll be fluent in the full breadth of Dreamweaver MX's powerful functionality, a unique learning curve backed up by solid real-world case studies and tutorials. What this book covers: Site design and layout principles Using templates and Cascading Style Sheets to create advanced site designs Adding interactivity to pages with script Setting up PHP and MySQL to create powerful dynamic database-driven applications Dreamweaver MX makes this all possible, and Foundation Dreamweaver MX makes it easier than you could have imagined.

Extreme Programming Refactored: The Case Against XP is meant to provide an independent look at Extreme Programming. It is meant to cut through the marketing hype of Extreme Programming and expose a number of weaknesses with this approach to software development. It tries to draw a distinction between true "agility" in a software process and "fragility" inherent in techniques such as oral documentation. Extreme Programming (XP) is a consummate mix of good goals, some good advice, and lots of bad advice. The goals and the good advice draw people in; the bad advice can potentially cause projects to fail. The XPers' theory is that when applied together, this mixture of rules will somehow magically be safe. XP therefore represents a high-risk process, wrapped in a "feel-good" methodology. The marketing, hype, and earnest self-assurance of its authors will convince many project leaders to try out XP on their next project. In Extreme Programming Refactored: The Case Against XP into a more viable process, Rosenberg and Stephens are not attempting to define a new methodology, as there are plenty of those in the World already. Instead, they will be examining XP in the context of existing methodologies and processes such as RUP, ICONIX, Spiral, RAD, DSDM, etc - and showing how XP goals can be achieved using these existing processes (with a slight emphasis on RUP and ICONIX), using software wisdom that has been tried and proven to work again and again.