Book Description
The ability to bring new and innovative products to market rapidly is the prime critical competence for any successful consumer-driven company. All industries, especially automotive, are slashing product development lead times in the current hyper-competitive marketplace. This book is the first to thoroughly examine and analyze the truly effective product development methodology that has made Toyota the most forward-thinking company in the automotive industry.
In The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process, and Technology, James Morgan and Jeffrey Liker compare and contrast the world-class product development process of Toyota with that of a U.S. competitor. They use extensive examples from Toyota and the U.S. competitor to demonstrate value stream mapping as an extraordinarily powerful tool for continuous improvement.
Through examples and case studies, this book illustrates specific techniques and proven practices for dealing with challenges associated with product development, such as synchronizing multiple disciplines, multiple function workload leveling, compound process variation, effective technology integration, and knowledge management.
This valuable book:
Highlights the application of value stream mapping methodology to product development. Identifies and defines the categories of waste that are specific to the product development process. Presents countermeasures and proven practices, based on Lean principles, developed for the product development process used at Toyota. Illustrates and clarifies the methodology by presenting actual case examples at Toyota and a U.S. competitor.
Readers of this book can focus on optimizing the entire product development value stream rather than focus on a specific tool or technology for local improvements.
Customer Reviews:
Toyota system- A good book.......2007-10-07
I bought this book as a part of my classroom text material. It's an interesting book that talks about how Toyota uses its system to achieve lean manufacturing by integrating people, process and technology. This is coupled with the lean design guide book for our text. It is informative.
A must read for those who want to study the next product development frontier!.......2007-06-18
This book is based on lean product development in the automotive world and has some shortcomings when it comes to applying what Toyota does to other industries. However, with Toyota's success lately their are few arguments against not studying how Toyota approaches product development and applying it to our specific industries. I think the hardest thing for most American companies will be having the long-term discipline to implement what Toyota has done.
Academic Review of New Product Development.......2007-05-28
Although this book is very popular today, the authors offer no new approaches to new product development. Companies should strive to leapfrog Toyota. Similarly to Demmings' focus on quality, every aspect of Toyota's NPD process was first developed in the USA, which still ranks as the World's leading innovation source.
Best book about Toyota PD.......2007-05-08
This is the third book I've read about Toyota and by far the best one. I'm an engineering manager and found dozens of simple, new ideas in this book. This is a very thorough & practical guide to the inside workings of Toyota's PD system. There are many examples and sufficient details that you can easily understand them and also try to implement them in your own organization.
Excellent reading for OEM........2007-04-05
Very interesting topics covered. Strongly recommended for engineers in the automotive industry.
Product Description
This book provides technical consultants, system architects, and administrators with a complete and comprehensive introduction to SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI), Release 3.0 Feature Pack (SP4). Learn the ins and outs of SAP's Integration Broker, and get a guided tour of the design of collaborative processes, the development of interfaces, Messages, Proxies, Mappings, and more. You'll also receive in-depth information and learn how to configure the system-spanning process for a specific system landscape, based on these development objects. Readers will also benefit from chapters devoted to running-time components (Integration Server, Integration Engine, Proxy Running Time, and Monitoring Tools) as well as system-spanning BPM. Plus, with added sections on specific applicationstwo detailed case scenarios on B2B Communication and system-spanning BPMyou'll learn how business management demands can be technically depicted and efficiently implemented. Highlights Include: Basic principles of process modeling First steps in Integration Builder Design and Development - Collaborative Processes, Interfaces, Messages, Proxies, and Mappings Configuration of system-spanning processes Running time - Integration Server, Integration Engine, Proxy Running Time, Monitoring Tools Case scenarios - System-spanning BPM, B2B Communication
Customer Reviews:
Everything as the title suggests...very good!!.......2007-01-11
This is an excellent book on XI, and I am not sure what the other reviewers where expecting from this book. I can agree that sometimes the language in the books a little difficult to understand, but that would not stop me from recommending this book to other XI users. Author provides an in-depth analysis for each component in XI. Here is how the book is organized:
Chapter 1 and 2 are essential for understanding all subsequent chapters, fundamentals of XI are explained here. Chapters 3 through 5 concentrate on design and development with SAP XI independently of specific system landscape. Chapter 6 summarizes everything discussed in previous chapters: It describes how you can configure the cross-system process for a specific system landscape, based on the developments made at the logical level. The order in which the topics are addressed reflects the chronological order of the corresponding steps in the SAP XI integration project. Chapter 7, which deals with SAP XI runtime, could be read concurrently with all other chapters. Chapter 8 completes the first part of the book with its description of the cross -component BPM, which marks the transition from stateless to stateful communication.
To illustrate how SP XI is applied in a business context, the second part of the book examines two customer scenarios that have been realized with SAP XI. Chapter 9 describes how cross-component BPM is used as part of an XI scenario at the Linde Group. Chapter 10 shows how the B2B features of SAP XI help connect a CRM system to an electronic marketplace over the Internet.
Very cryptic - Tough to understand.......2006-12-13
It is expected that the chapters 1 & 2 be read before going ahead with any other chapters. It would have helped the readers if these two chapters were presented in a simpler way. May be the blame goes to the translation.
Seems like this book is for those who already have good understanding of XI or who have worked on XI before.
Good high level but not technical.......2006-07-27
This was a very difficult book to read because it is so incredibly dry, like many other SAP Press books.
It provides an excellent overview of SAP XI, and explains the architecture very well. It also gives very good business examples. Unfortunately, I was looking for something much more technical, and this was not detailed enough for me. I had much better luck figuring out how to use XI on my own rather than reading this book.
Perhaps I just had the wrong idea as to what sort of a book this was.
shows in part why JMX failed.......2006-06-26
The book explains how a programmer might use the SAP API for Exchange. There is much detail provided by SAP, with additional explanations given by the book's authors. For example, we see that the Mapping Editor can be used to provide a graphical view of an XML document. Though the graphics are somewhat constrained if you have a very long document.
Messaging is an important part of EI. We are shown how to exchange messages. This EI aspect can also be hooked up to a Java Message Service. Where here, messaging is not email, in general. But data packets that might be used by external Web Services.
The book shows inadvertantly why JMX proved so useless in practise. EI offers management control functionality for SAP processes that is equivalent to what JMX once promised for controlling distributed java applications. Alas, JMX was too general. Whereas EI gives specific control hooks into an already well accepted and popular SAP package.
Book Description
Large Group Interventions are methods used to gather a whole system together to discuss and take action on the target agenda. That agenda varies from future plans, products, and services, to redesigning work, to discussion of troubling issues and problems. The Handbook of Large Group Methods takes the next step in demonstrating through a series of cases how Large Group Methods are currently being used to address twenty-first-century challenges in organizations and communities today, including:
- Working with widely dispersed organizations, and the problem of involvement and participation
- Working with organizations facing a serious business crisis
- Working with organizations in polarized and politicized environments
- Working in community settings with diverse interest groups
- Working at the global level and adapting these methods for cross-cultural use
- Embedding and sustaining new patterns of working together in organizations and communities
Customer Reviews:
The Handbook of Large Group Methods.......2007-09-12
Trust Alban and Bunker to use their social science prowess and rich professional experiences to create an eminently pragmatic handbook for leaders of systems change. To their credit, the entire construction of the book also employs the very principles espoused by the contributors: inclusion of stakeholders, engagement of multiple perspectives, search for common ground, transparency, and appreciation for diversity. After soliciting cases from around the world, the authors organized them into helpful categories of interventions around "six challenges for the 21st century" and added their views on the issues created by those challenges. These chapter inputs are perfect executive summaries for clients who are mired in these dilemmas daily and are looking for solutions and they will help introduce the large group engagement methods the consultant is offering. Also invaluable is the authors' matrix of each case that delineates the organizational sector, the situation addressed, and the methods used--truly makes the text handy.
Although the book stands on its own merits for the sophisticated organization consultant, reading their previous Large Group Interventions (Jossey Bass, 1997) would give the appropriate context for the creative adaptations of the original methods that their latest book so well describes. The Handbook has not only added new methods (Appreciative Inquiry Summit, World Café and AmericaSpeaks) but, more importantly, it describes combinations of traditional methods along with new twists which are thoroughly described. Appropriately, there is a greater reliance on engagement principles for a change process instead of previously prescribed recipes for events in their prior book.
The consultant contributors have been generous with details, for the most part, so that seasoned organization development consultants will feel comfortable employing these tested methods of engagement. On the other hand, there also could also be a warning sticker that reads: "Don't Try This Alone in your Ballroom!" because much of the success comes with years of experience working with diverse groups and learning what doesn't work. Partnering with such experts is the wisest way to dive into whole system change.
As a trainer of large group principles, I particularly appreciated the enhancement tools this handbook describes--Polarity Mapping (B. Johnson), Gestalt therapy, coaching theory, using professional actors for storytelling, graphic facilitation and more. I look forward to the 2017 iteration Bunker and Alban offer to keep us on our toes!
Elizabeth K. Olson
Preferred Futures, Inc.
Carlotta Tyler, OD Consultant and Executive Coach.......2007-03-18
This Handbook is a valuable, broad scope look at public and private sector systems currently engaged in change iniatitives around the world. Relatively free of jargon and untried theories, these field-tested case studies will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers from organization leaders and HR professionals to business school students. I came away with some important new ideas for my work and avoided a few pitfalls after reading the book.
An excellent combination of practice, theory and new ideas.......2007-02-03
Through the many cases presented, Barbara and Billie were able to present to the reader how the different Large Group Methods actually can be applied, and, specially, how they form part of a larger roadmap for systemic change. Interesting also how all cases have a reflections session, which is very usefull in giving actual or to-be practitioners concrete tips for implementation.
The combination of cases with theory about the methods and innovative ideas (for example, on the use of Technologies and Graphic facilitation)resulted in a superior learning experience and complements very well their first book ("Large Group Interventions: Engaging the Whole System for Rapid Change").
Last but not least, I was happy to note how there was a shift in attention from method to challenges that organizations or communities are facing - so a focus on impact and change. A book worth reading for those that are facing or will face large scale changes.
Substantive and Provocative.......2007-01-16
In the complex, interconnected, global environment that most organizations work in daily, it is no longer possible for a few people "at the top" of the organization to have all the knowledge, expertise, and perspective needed for its success. At NovaLearning, we have used large group methods with colleges and universities for about fifteen years. I have constantly seen how institutions become better -- more focused, more strategic, but also more humane -- as they incorporate ideas and insight from across the system into their operation. When Bunker and Alban's earlier book was published, I was delighted because it captured well the range of large group approaches that had developed by 1996. This new handbook goes much further.
These are substantive case studies exceptionally well framed by Bunker and Alban's insight and experience. The diverse case study authors are generous in sharing at a level of specificity that makes real learning from their experiences possible. Each chapter is organized around the presenting challenge, the context and methodology (and why chosen), a detailed description of what actually happened, and perhaps most importantly, a set of reflections and insights that give the reader the chance to share in the authors' learning. I also found valuable the examples of how the innovative use of communication technologies can provide new opportunities as well as sometimes create unexpected limitations. I strongly recommend The Handbook of Large Group Methods to consultants who use or want to use large group methods. Individual chapters will also be important and provocative for corporate, academic, social, and political leaders and change agents.
How These Methods Actually Work In Practice.......2007-01-08
The strength of this book lies in the fact that it not only provides methodologies and resources for creating change in organizations in the 21st century; but also identifies how these methodologies actually work in practice.
A series of case studies ranges from addressing business issues at American Airlines and the BBC to managing change in organizations in Mexico and Indonesia. The reader is taken on a journey by those individuals who were responsible for implementing large group methodologies in their respective organizations.
By reading about these success stories and the methodologies they employ, you will be able to develop a plan for you own organization that will ensure a higher level of success that would otherwise be possible.
Walter Willigan, President, Willigan Consulting LLC
Book Description
The Shopfloor Series puts powerful improvement tools in the hands of an entire workforce. And now Productivity's all-time bestseller, A Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System, is available in a condensed version prepared especially for front-line workers and general interest readers. Quick changeover techniques, the basis for "just-in-time" manufacturing, result in dramatically lower costs and vastly improved product quality. This peerless introduction includes chapter outlines, margin assists, illustrations, and helpful application questions. The late Shigeo Shingo was the undisputed master of advanced methods that revolutionized manufacturing worldwide. Dr. Shingo, inventor of the Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) system for Toyota, shows how to reduce changeover time by an average of 98 percent! Application of Shingo's techniques can reduce lead time from weeks to days, and lower work-in-process, inventory, and warehousing costsall of which will improve quality, productivity, and profits.
Customer Reviews:
Easy and straight forward for beginners.......2007-03-11
Whether you start with JIT/Lean or Quick Response Manufacturing, you need to learn some simple tools helping you with the process improvement after any process analyze. Many books about operations management will teach you the interaction of workstations and the parameters influencing the performance of a workstation, line or even a factory. Furthermore good operations books will give you the insights how to analyze the performance of a system. What often misses (which is Ok), is to provide the knowledge, e.g. if lot size reduction will bring a huge improvement for cycle-time etc., how to do this? Most of the books of this series exactly deal with this questions and present some methods that work and will simplify your life reading more sophisticated literature about this issue later on.
All the books of the productivity press series were a great help to me. The following books of this series provided a good start about:
- SMED: how to reduce change-over time and to make small lot sizes happen
- TPM: how to improve machine availability and breakdown variability
- ZQC: overcoming the problem of other quality methods, that only measure what was done but w/o pre-active prevention for rework/ scrap (Six-Sigma, SPC etc. are more complicated and not pre-active..)
The key for SMED is explained very well - separation of the change over step by distinguishing internal and external set-up and how to proceed. I read more sophisticated books about this subject, but this simple book is the first one I pick from my shelf, whenever I need some help. When you need more specific information e.g. about quick-fixations and what exists and how they look like, then buying other books can be helpful as well.
Best Regards,
Oliver
Book Description
ZQC is based on the principle that defects are prevented by controlling the performance of a process so that it cannot produce defects, even when a mistake is made by the machine or a human operator. Instead of pointing fingers at people, ZQC finds ways to keep errors from turning into defects. This book introduces front-line workers to the basic methodology of ZQC in a succinct, easy to read format that covers all aspects of this important manufacturing improvement strategy.
Customer Reviews:
Simple and straight forward for beginners.......2007-03-11
Whether you start with JIT/Lean or Quick Response Manufacturing, you need to learn some simple tools helping you with the process improvement after any process analyze. Many books about operations management will teach you the interaction of workstations and the parameters influencing the performance of a workstation, line or even a factory. Furthermore good operations books will give you the insights how to analyze the performance of a system. What often misses (which is Ok), is to provide the knowledge, e.g. if lot size reduction will bring a huge improvement for cycle-time etc., how to do this? Most of the books of this series exactly deal with this questions and present some methods that work and will simplify your life reading more sophisticated literature about this issue later on.
All the books of the productivity press series were a great help to me. The following books of this series provided a good start about:
- SMED: how to reduce change-over time and to make small lot sizes happen
- TPM: how to improve machine availability and breakdown variability
- ZQC: overcoming the problem of other quality methods, that only measure what was done but w/o pre-active prevention for rework/ scrap (Six-Sigma, SPC etc. are more complicated and not pre-active..)
The series includes as well 5s and Pull Production etc. Especially the 3 titles mentionned above are a good introduction to related fiels. As your experiences grows, you might read more specific books about the subject later on. The data collection, e.g. for machine availability and variation etc., is not the objective of this book, but the method itself, how to to do it.
For beginners, 5 stars is fair enough.
Best Regards,
Oliver
Customer Reviews:
Interesting integration of two major quality frameworks.......2004-03-25
This book is also available as an e-book (see ISBN B0000AJ68G). Regardless of which format you choose, the content is one of the best descriptions of ISO 9001:2000 and the CMMI - and how to use them as an integrated approach to achieve a high level of capability maturity.
The authors provide a summary of process improvement approaches, including frameworks and interrelationships among them. There is excellent background information on the CMMI and how it evolved from the older CMM. This also includes early work by the FAA with its iCMM approach.
In the parts of the book dealing with ISO 9001 the authors show the key differences between ISO 9001:94 and ISO 9001:2000, and provide a context and value proposition for them. The significant changes between the 1994 and 2000 versions of ISO 9001 are covered in detail. W
Another key feature of this book is the section on making the transition from legacy standards. This is where the differences between CMM and CMMI, and ISO 9001:1994 and ISO 9001:2000 are clearly highlighted. If you are currently operating under either the older CMM or ISO 9001:94 framework, this section of the book also provides clear guidance for making the transition to the CMMI and ISO 9001:2000. This guidance is in the form of a five-step approach for either implementing anew, or making the transition from a legacy framework - (1) initiating, (2) diagnosing, (3)establishing, (4) acting, and (5) learning. The authors also provide ISO 9001:2000->CMMI and CMMI->ISO 9001:2000 document mapping, which will cut through the maze and show how to reduce unnecessary documentation by integrating documentation where possible.
The authors have produced a book that is exceptionally well written, clarifies two complex frameworks, and shows how they can be used in conjunction with one another.
delivers what it promisses.......2003-09-11
the book brings together two recently updated, important standards for (software) quality management: CMMI and ISO 9001.
the book is thoroughly set up and structured, easy to interpret and navigate with all the necessary mappings and tables, and
systematic considerations of process improvement approaches.
also of interest for people only focussing on the CMMI and not ISO. well done!
Amazon.com
Even a company that dramatically improves its efficiency and product quality can fail miserably. Peter G. W. Keen names this phenomenon the "process paradox," a modern industrial problem that he deconstructs and defeats in his book The Process Edge. The basis of business acumen is common sense, Keen reminds us, but it must be combined with a rigor that measures pure worth. Processes--not only in customer service and quality assurance, but in larger, abstract notions such as acquisition and cultural initiatives--need to be approached in this basic manner. Using a broad, multidisciplinary approach (Keen was an English literature major in college but has since taught management science at Stanford and MIT), he immerses the theory of business processes in an economic bath, refining previously overlooked processes and debunking "magical" ones. Methods that businesses institute, after proving advantageous, can still build in value, and then must be incorporated into the entire business strategy. Keen substantiates his points with real-life cases and examples, from Dell and IBM to Wal-Mart and Boeing. Managers who wish to examine their businesses holistically and within sound theory will appreciate The Process Edge, but it will prove most valuable to managers who need to enact change now.
Book Description
The Process Edge proves that business process improvement is not a fad. It addresses the recent backlash against process movements like reengineering by explaining why businesses can decline even as process reform is creating dramatic new efficiencies and savings. Companies that experience this paradox are investing in the wrong processes. The book presents an economic model for deciding which business processes are worth the investment and provides the tools for applying the model. It shows that process can be the key to competitive edge. Applying the principles of The Process Edge will help managers resolve the process paradox by measuring the genuine cost and economic value of process improvements and investing only in those that will help their companies thrive.
Customer Reviews:
The Process Edge.......2003-02-02
Excellent overview and approach to project selection for business process improvement. Clear and original thinking on the matrix and balance sheet approach to process definition. Little detail however on what to do once the targeted areas are identified. Good companion to Good To Great by Collins (with similar levels of implementation detail).
"Keen" Insight into Process Improvement.......2001-12-11
Most improvement programs struggle with the project selection process. Mr Keen provides an interesting approach in identifying processes where improvement offers the greatest impact to the organization. There is also intriguing discussion contrasting benefits and value. This is a nice thought provoking book for folks tasked with identifying improvement opportunities in any organization.
Thought Provoking!.......2000-07-06
Keen excels at extending the definition of processes and providing a structured Salience/Worth matrix approach of thinking about them. An important read for developing an understanding of processes and their role.
Exceptional value! Replaces your TQM & Reengineering books........1999-10-08
The inability to understand the value of business processes is the pitfall of many reengineering projects especially in IT. Internalizing this book will certainly contribute to your future projects. A must in any business management library.
Poor follow through.......1998-07-01
The book raises some interesting issues (treating processes as capital, using EVA) but ultimately falls short somehow. The author points out that there are more processes than just the traditional workflow ones, but his examples are all of workflow processes. He never talks about succession planning processes or employee retention processes. The first few chapters were interesting but the rest was more or less useless.
Average customer rating:
- Outstanding!
- Bridges the Gap between Theory and Practice
|
Collaborative Process Improvement: With Examples from the Software World (Practitioners)
Celeste Labrunda Yeakley , and
Jeffrey D. Fiebrich
Manufacturer: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr
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Book Description
The battle cry “Do more with less” has become “Work Hard, Work Smart!” This book will help you work smart by providing an easy to understand framework where you can quickly develop Software Quality advocates throughout your organization. These easy methods will accelerate process improvements for your organization. This book provides checklists, templates, exercises, tips and pitfalls to avoid, helping you build a group of competent quality advocates within your organization while keeping the cost to a minimum.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding!.......2007-05-04
This book should be required reading for all those interested in quality development processes. The authors depart from tedium to provide a clear and well thought presentation of ideas (often coupled with intuitive anecdotes) that paint a vivid understanding of the big picture. Outstanding!!
Bridges the Gap between Theory and Practice.......2007-04-30
This is a great book that starts out with the premise that to improve all facets of software development and total quality management, you need to look inside. The human being is seen as an indissoluble entity; we cannot work with the mind without also taking account of the body. The two are closely related with, for example, particular emotions being associated with certain postures and the authors take this into account. This all maps wonderfully to The Elaboration, Construction and Transition phases that are divided into a series of timeboxed iterations, and the authors help you step through each part of the phases and relate them to concrete examples of management and project techniques. It is a superb book, I bought a copy but I understand there will be a new edition online with extra chapters that will definitely get me to buy it all over again. This is the kind of book I've been looking for and have now, seemingly have finally found.
Amazon.com
Written for project leaders and managers, Managing Technical People delivers advice on how best to deal with the particulars of leading talented, technically minded people through project cycles. Author Watts Humphrey explains his methods for becoming a better project leader, recognizing and recruiting talented people for the right job, and effectively managing those people through the software product cycle. Most of his points are illustrated with anecdotes, tables, and charts, and there are plenty of the requisite multistep methods for improving specific problems.
Customer Reviews:
Great management book.......2002-02-22
This is a great book for someone who's looking for cases and practical ideas. It doesn't give any numerical analyses or "magical" formulas. It's a guide for project managers and how to manage different people with different skills and professional perspectives.
Great book on Management!.......2002-02-18
This book is a great book for anyone who currently manages and wants to understand how to get the most out of his team. It has plenty of great suggestions to improve people-development as well as process-development. But more important than the suggestions, this book explains why and how certain courses of action succeed while others fail.
Too often technical people are promoted into management with no training. One cannot learn how to manage by merely performing technical tasks. One can learn by reading books like this one.
If Humphrey was my manager I'd quit.......2001-07-21
Some of what he writes is correct, some of it is malarky. I read the entire book hoping he reveal some valuable information. Nope. Worse, in that his methods destroy morale. He seems to think that being a tyrant is the way to get a project done. Ive seen plenty of tyrants fail. Dont waste your time. Try reading Steve McConnel and Tom Demarco instead. (Peopleware and Rapid development)
Not what I expected from a great man like Humphrey.......2000-03-07
This book was not what I expected. Humphrey uses mostly anecdotal examples to illustrate his many points. Though this helps get his points across, it does not really prove his assertions.
Most of his advice is not practical, or even possible in the employment situations I've seen (and heard about) over the last ten years or so. I found a few interesting parts, much like I would find it interesting to listen to the tales of any old-timer about the `good old days', and some of his insights about people in general are quite keen.
Some parts really hurt my will to read on. For example, he seems to believe that if a manager can get his team members to work lots of overtime, that higher productivity will automatically follow. Someone who has written books about the use of careful measurements during software development should know better. The evidence I've seen and read (in other books) indicates that regular overtime is a `bad smell' of deeper problems, and a perfect recipe for low quality and ultimately failed projects.
He even claims that the manager's job is to put schedule pressure on the engineers, otherwise they'll take forever and never get anything done. Again, he includes a little anecdotal example. However, with very few exceptions all of the engineers I've worked with hold themselves to certain standards of quality and productivity. Usually management pressure (especially the old time-crunch game) just hurts more than it helps.
Overall, much of his advice doesn't fit with the reality I've been experiencing lately.
I recommend comparing and contrasting Humphrey's advice with that found in "Peopleware" (2nd ed.) by DeMarco & Lister.
Also, for even better book full of `management tips' see "201 Principles of Software Development" by Davis.
Really perceptive book.......2000-01-18
Keenly written book, shows the depth of Watts Humphrey's experience. Greatly rewarding for anyone who is willing to look at situations without applying oppressor/oppressed stereotypes. The book will sail cleanly over the heads of those who do not have at least 4-5 years of hands-on management experience, and will boink the others between the eyes. The sections where he talks about why technical people appear dissatisfied and how managers fail them were just amazingly useful once I forgot to fight the contents.
Book Description
In this era of globalization, outsourcing has emerged as a key strategy not only for achieving competitive advantage but also for survival. However, despite widespread adoption, there are few practical guidelines in the market regarding how to optimally manage outsourced projects. Global Outsourcing with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System teaches managers, developers, and SQA professionals how to successfully execute outsourced projects. Providing best practices guidelines based upon empirical experience of leading practitioners in the outsourcing industry, the book shows how to construct result-oriented development processes for mitigating execution risk, improving quality, and increasing efficiency. Using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System as the underlying infrastructure, the book teaches how to customize development methodologies, integrate with MS Project and MS Outlook, embed real-time communication capabilities, manage source code and build process, run unit tests, create custom reports, and leverage the project portal. Global Outsourcing with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System is an essential IT reference for companies interested in effectively managing outsourced projects and reducing friction associated with globally distributed software development.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent guidance for outsourcing/distributed environment.......2007-06-05
Note: This review gives more importance to the processes than the other obvious benefits.
Who should read this book?
- On-site coordinators
- Off-shore managers
- Process managers/Product Managers
- Key people involved in distributed development/outsourcing.
Why this book is useful?
- This book can be used as a process guidance for outsourcing/distributed environment.
- This book clearly identifies the day to day issues of a distributed development environment and gives options on how to mitigate the risks.
- Explains all the possible options on how efficiently VSTS can be used.
- This is very useful not only for the teams using VSTS 2005, but also for any distributed development team as this clearly gives an idea of what processes should be in place. VSTS is an all-in-one tool which helps in making the life easier.
- For companies which do not prefer to use VSTS can also leverage from the processes clearly mentioned in the book and can achieve similar efficiency by using different free tools available in the market.
- The book has shown how to customize the VSTS to suit the specific need along with the code which is very handy and reduces a lot of effort in customizing.
- More importantly, this book is very handy and easily understood by techies and non-techies alike. Non-techies can understand the processes without getting into any technical details.
- Addresses the issues faced by bigger and smaller companies and bigger or smaller teams.
A fine technical overview programmers will relish........2006-11-05
Jamil Azher's GLOBAL OUTSOURCING WITH MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 2005 TEAM SYSTEM tells how to manage outsourced projects using Visual Studio 2005, which engages developers, project managers and team leads alike. GLOBAL OUTSOURCING takes it examples from the real world also: it examines typical outsource management issues, applications, and problem-solving in a fine technical overview programmers will relish.
Excellent Book.......2006-08-30
Global Outsourcing with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System is an excellent book and informational resource. The format is easy to follow, intuitive, and simplifies gaining an understanding of both the concept of global outsourcing as well as the software.
A Software Assist to Communications........2006-08-23
This book is indeed about global outsourcing, but it deals with the outsourcing of software not athletic shoes or kitchen ware. Specifically, as you might guess from the title, it concentrates on the use of Microsoft's Team System version of Visual Studio 2005. Other Microsoft products such as Project and Excel from the Office suite are also shown as a part of an integrated management system.
There is little question tht outsourcing is here to stay. The cost savings are simply to great to be ignored. A programmer with a few years of experience in the US is paid an average of $55K, in India $15K, and in China $9K.
There is also no question that outsourcing brings its own problems in terms of management, control and especially communications. Many of these problems are specifically discussed in the book, and it goes on to show that the Microsoft tools can assist in these areas. The tools will not, of course, guarantee success but they may help to make a project a success.
Books:
- The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- Understanding PKI: Concepts, Standards, and Deployment Considerations, Second Edition
- Used Car Buying Guide 2007 (Consumer Reports Used Car Buying Guide)
- Value Driven Intellectual Capital: How to Convert Intangible Corporate Assets Into Market Value
- Venice Against the Sea: A City Besieged
- Video Over IP: A Practical Guide to Technology and Applications (Focal Press Media Technology Professional Series)
- Water in Environmental Planning
- Who's Who in the Bible: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary (Reader's Digest)
- Working Across Boundaries: Making Collaboration Work in Government and Nonprofit Organizations (Jossey Bass Nonprofit & Public Management Series)
- 21 Things Every Future Engineer Should Know: A Practical Guide for Students and Parents
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
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- Mastering Digital Color: A Photographer's and Artist's Guide to Controlling Color
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- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- The Mollusca, Volume 5: Physiology, Part 2
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2005 Wall Calendar
- Money Matters for Hospitality Managers
- Swimming Lessons: A Novel
Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: Why Toyota's System Is Four Times More Productive and How You Can Implement It
The Toyota Way
The Toyota Way Fieldbook
Toyota Talent
Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth
