Developing Products in Half the Time: New Rules, New Tools, 2nd Edition
Author: Preston G. Smith, Donald G. Reinertsen
List Price: $34.95
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ISBN: 0471292524
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (10 October, 1997)
Sales Rank: 8,194
Average Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Excellent must-read for senior managers
I found that this book was packed full of common sense, which is rare in a development management book. Although it has a lot of examples of manufacturing of phsyical goods, I found it great as a software manager. There aren't many spare words in this book, either -- it's terse and well edited, so you get the raw facts and the necessary stories to back them up, but not a lot (or any, really) fluff. I am putting it on my bookshelf for software engineers, right next to Writing Solid Code and Debugging the Development Process, two classics for software engineers and team leads, respectively.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Buy and Read
Absolutely the best book there is on the subject of new product development. Of particular import is the discussion on market and pricing dynamics, which may be new to technical-types. Choosing the right product to develop is critical to avoid "The Innovators Dilemma". The book however needs to add more to the discussion of the importance (and risk) of rapid return of (partial) information to the team during the development cycle, as well as human (team) dynamics. I would therefore recommend "The Team Handbook" as a necessary adjunct.
Rating: 5 out of 5
very sophisticated tools for real life product development
While the first edition was a bit dry to read in the first four chapters, the second edition is more fun. The value of the content has not been reduced with rev 2.0, on the contrary.The book is full of sound business theory which is well explained and put into real life context to help the non-MBA to transfer the message to their respective challenges.
Also invaluable are the hints towards common pitfalls. They show that the authors have really applied the theory and are aware of the human factor in change processes.
I read rev 1.0 and 2.0 and will probably buy 3.0 as well.
Keep going!
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Book Index