This book has already been highly commended and indeed chosen as the Book of the Month by The Computer Bulletin of the British Computer Society. It is part of the series Managing Object Technology published by CUP.
At first reading it would appear to be only of interest to those interested in efficiently managing a project by using the latest methodology advanced by object technology. But the book is not overtechnical in its approach and cyberneticians and systemists with interest in other areas would not only understand its impact on building large systems but would also enjoy reading about an object oriented development.
The author does, however, have the project manager in mind and is able to clearly set out the stages of such developments. Each stage is clearly discussed about a framework of four main activities. These are: initiation, construction, delivery, and maintenance. The importance of initiation and construction phases in such
development projects is emphasised and useful descriptions given. Discussion is also included about the various techniques that are used for defining requirements as well as the infrastructures of the project in hand. Cyberneticians will be able to assess descriptions of modelling and programming and also class testing. It also describes and compares models as well as principles. These range from the development life cycle of the project to the important elements of risk management and programming.
The two phases: maintenance and support and other themes are set out in a companion volume: More Process Patterns.
Readers who are involved with management cybernetics and systems will appreciate the author’s aims of total integration of all the phases into one whole process that includes the application of object‐oriented technology and the relevant methodology. Managers and others already involved with projects will be able to identify themselves with the author’s strategy and the descriptions of process patterns and the interactions of those who are involved in building such systems using this technology.
It is a useful text for those who are involved with building large scale systems and for those who wish to know about the current state of the development of this “object technological approach”. Potential readers should consider buying both texts if they want a fully comprehensive view of the subject.
