Asian/Pacific Markets: A Guide to Company and Industry Information Sources

Book Description

The six volumes of Peterson's Annual Guides to Graduate Study, the only annually updated reference work of its kind, provide wide-ranging information on the graduate and professional programs offered by accredited colleges and universities in the United States and U.S. territories and those in Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Africa that are accredited by U.S. accrediting bodies. Books 2 through 6 are divided into sections that contain one or more directories devoted to individual programs in a particular field. Book 4 contains programs of study in the physical sciences, mathematics, agricultural sciences, the environment, and natural resources.

Customer Reviews:

Inaccuarte information.......2004-10-28

This volume is not accurate. I have found cases of instructors being listed as PhD's and researchers. Also, affiliated faculty members are listed as regular faculty.

Book Description

Everyone has assets to protect.

Customer Reviews:

Practical Guide? Yes!.......2002-09-15

Finally, a book absolutely anyone can understand when deciding how and where to invest. Mr. Dunetz is obviously an intelligent man but is able to speak to the layman as well as the established investor.

Essential financial information........1998-12-09

I'm glad I read this book before I planned my estate. Finally, a comprehensive and easy to read volume on the subject.

A must-read for financial planners. Easy to digest........1998-12-01

My sister Allison turned me on to this book when I told her of my concern towards protecting my future assets, and am I glad she did. Easy to read information that has already helped me in my quest to protect my sizable fortune obtained after years and years of domestic cat breeding.

Book Description

A collection of masterworks on quality technology from the giant in the field

The chapters of this book are from the recent writings of George E. P. Box, an acknowledged world leader in the application and theory of quality methodology to management, process improvement, process design, and discovery.

Box's unique ability to explain complex ideas simply and appealingly with wit and cogent illustration is well known. It draws on profound knowledge and extensive industrial experience. In the past, these abilities have led to the creation of such techniques as response surface methods, time series analysis for forecasting and control, evolutionary operation, and applied Bayesian methods.

Over the past fifteen years, Box's work with many distinguished colleagues has been directed to the development and better understanding of quality techniques and how they can drive creativity and discovery. Key features of Box on Quality and Discovery include:

Five separate sections on (I) management issues, (II) experimental design, (III) sequential investigation for discovery, (IV) process control for monitoring and feedback adjustment, and (V) reduction of variation and design of robust products and processes
Edited by five eminent quality practitioners and statisticians from industry and academia
Superb subject and author index for easy reference
An additional key contribution from Stu Hunter

Published in celebration of George Box's 80th birthday, this incomparable volume is destined to remain the definitive reference on statistical quality for many years to come.

Customer Reviews:

the wisdom of Box and songs too!.......2001-06-12

George Box is one of the statistical giants of the 20th Century. He started his career in chemical engineering in England where he learned the importance of experimental design and statistical methods. He came to the US in 1953 and spent time at North Carolina State College and later came back to be part of the statistics group at Princeton. After that he founded the Department fo Statistics at the University of Wisconsin. This history and other important career decisions icluding the founding of Technometrics are detailed in the brief section "My Professional Life" that he wrote for this volume.

Box's contributions to statistics are diverse and large. He developed many practical statistical designs including the central composite design. He is responsible for evolutionary operation and wrote a book on it with Norman Draper. He has also made major contributions to response surface methodology.

With Gwilym Jenkins he systematized the application of the ARIMA models and led the development of software for easy application of these model building techniques. He championed the concept of parsimonious models and insisted that model building should be an iterative and continually evolving technique. He contributed to the area of control through his stochastic time series models and found ways to incorporate it in manufacturing process control.

With David Cox he developed the Box-Cox family of transformations. These simple power transformation can be used to make the data have an approximate normal shape. he gave a prescription for how to estimate or pick the power to use based on the data.

These enormous contributions can be found in the volumes of collected works that Tiao and others have edited. His contributions can also be seen from his books on evolutionary operation, time series analysis, automated process control, empirical model building and response surfaces, and practical experimental designs ("Statistics for Experimenters").

However in the decades of the 80s and 90s from age 60 to 80, instead of retiring, George Box took on the challenge of developing a center for quality and productivity at the University of Wisconsin. This volme, edited by Tiao, Bisgaard, Hill, Pena and Stigler provides a collection of articles by Box. These are mostly articles written in the 1990s covering the subjects of A) continuous process improvement, B) designing experiments to gain quality information, C) sequential investigation and discovery (including response surface methods), D) quality control and E) learning how to identify and reduce variation or be less sensitive to it by constructing robust processes (i.e. processes not sensitive to minor changes in process parameters). The articles are mostly directed toward quality issues and are mostly articles that were published in the 1990s or 2000 with a few from the 80s. Some are important technical contributions but many are also very philosophical.

George Box is one of the great thinkers of the 20th century and his philosophy on statistics and scientific inference is as important as his many technical contributions. There are 46 articles in total 4 on topic A, 12 on B, 10 on C, 11 on D and 9 on E. Each topic area has a brief introduction identifying a unifying theme in the papers in that section.

Box has a terrific sense of humor that often comes out in his lectures and sometimes in his writings. One gets a good appreciation of it by reading the three songs on statistics that are included in Part F of the book. This is only a sample of several that he has written that are parodies of familiar tunes. Of these three my favorite is "There's no theorem like Bayes theorem" to the tune of "There's no business like show business."

There is a nice bibliography in the back of the book that is followed by a biography on Box and a list of his books and articles published between 1982 and 1999. This includes 3 books and 91 articles! Believe it or not he published even more in his earlier years.

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Box on Quality and Discovery with Design, Control, and Robustness. (Book Reviews).(Book Review) (book review): An article from: IIE Transactions
Byung Rae Cho
Manufacturer: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B0008DHS7W
Release Date: 2005-07-31

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This digital document is an article from IIE Transactions, published by Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE) on June 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1380 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Box on Quality and Discovery with Design, Control, and Robustness. (Book Reviews).(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Byung Rae Cho
Publication: IIE Transactions (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2003
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
Volume: 35 Issue: 6 Page: 584(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Box on Quality and Discovery: with Design, Control, and Robustness

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Box on Quality and Discovery: with Design, Control, and Robustness
George C. Tiao
Manufacturer: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUZDCS

Book Description

Adam Smith and the Classics analyses the influence of classical culture---the work of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and the Stoics---on Adam Smith's thought. Vivenza bases her arguments on elements of Smith's work that can be shown to be precise reflections of passages from the classical authors, and on Smith's own acknowledgements that he was so influenced. The bulk of the classical nuances occur in Smith's moral and natural philosophy, but Vivenza also shows that the classics had some impact on his economic thought. The book represents a complete survey of all Adam Smith's writings, and is organized by arguments: natural philosophy, moral philosophy, jurisprudence, topics of economic interest, and literature. A further chapter discusses the very recent consensus among a number of scholars that Smith's writings display strong elements of Stoicism. Adam Smith and the Classics is a significant book, since it shows just how strong an impression the classical training had on the intellectual elite of the eighteenth century. So much so that the classics have left their mark on the scholarship and writings of the time.

Adam Smith and the Classics : The Classical Heritage in Adam Smith's Thought

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Adam Smith and the Classics : The Classical Heritage in Adam Smith's Thought
Gloria Vivenza
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press(UK)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLC1EI

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Adam Smith and the Classics: The Classical Heritage in Adam Smith's Thought
Gloria Vivenza
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MVGU1A

Book Description

Until the currency crisis of 1997, East Asia was hailed around the world as a model of economic growth and development. However, when the crisis struck, East Asian countries found themselves struggling without the regional cooperation frameworks that had been established by the other major economic regions of the world. The establishment of a strong East Asian regional cooperation framework has become a vital policy challenge in the post-crisis period. In February 2002 a group of leading Asian economic policy experts came together to discuss the future of East Asian regionalism at the "Co-design for a New East Asia" symposium hosted by the Economic Research Center of Nagoya University. This book brings together the key papers from that symposium and strongly argues the case for an East Asian regionalism while addressing the potential barriers to such a framework. The book is of interest to everyone concerned about the economic future of East Asia in a post-crisis globalized economy.

Book Description

Dr. Woodside picks up where other books on "maxi-marketing" leave off, to prove that the effectiveness of image and linkage advertising can be measured, and to show advertising professionals how to do it. Readable and in detail, with carefully culled examples that go beyond simple case studies, Dr. Woodside provides a 20-step process model of how low and high involvement advertising work, and shows how to use top-of-mind-awareness measures and benefit-to-brand retrieval to assess advertising impact. His book also covers the details of evaluating the effectiveness of competing advertising media and ways to do useful advertising-to-sales conversion studies, within budget and in a timely manner. Well illustrated with tables and figures, and drawing upon important practical and academic research, Dr. Woodside's book will be essential reading for advertising, marketing, and sales executives and their colleagues in the academic community. Dr. Woodside leads off with his 20-step process model and review of the scientific and applied literature to show how advertising works. He answers the question of why top-of-mind awareness measures of advertising effectiveness are so valuable, and then uses detailed, numerical examples to illustrate the powerful tool of benefit-to-brand retrieval. He links profit-and-loss analysis to a linkage advertising monitoring program, then discusses the net profit impact of each advertisement in each medium. His report of a field study demonstrates that net profit is the big difference between image and linkage advertising. From there he moves to the long interview and its application to voice-of-the customer research, ways to value different customer segments, and how to monitor linkage advertising fulfillment strategies. Dr. Woodside's book will be an important contribution to our understanding of how advertising is done, and how it can be done better.

Measuring Advertising Effectiveness (Advertising and Consumer Psychology Series: A Series Sponsor)

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Measuring Advertising Effectiveness (Advertising and Consumer Psychology Series: A Series Sponsor)

Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Brands & Advertising: How advertising effectiveness influences brand equity

ASIN: 0805828125

Book Description

This volume includes edited and revised versions of the papers delivered and discussed at the recent Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference. Following the theme of the conference -- "Measuring Advertising Effectiveness" -- the book blends academic psychology, marketing theory, survey methodology, and practical experience, while simultaneously addressing the problems and limitations of advertising. br br Acknowledging that advertisements are subtle, diverse, complex phenomena that require detailed investigation, this compilation explores the multidimensional nature of advertising's diverse effects from both academic and applied perspectives. Updates on theories and methods -- along with expert commentaries -- help to make this a valuable collection that will be of interest to advertising and marketing specialists and communications experts alike. br

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Measuring Advertising Effectiveness

Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FATTIY

Product Description

"What This Book Is About: This book brings together the most up-to-date information about; (1.) Measurement of advertising messages (Part One), (2.) Measurement of advertising media (Part Two). In other words, this is a book about creative research and media in the advertising industry of today and with emphasis on practical details. Part One explains both the planning of advertising measurement and the techniques of measuring advertising messages. There are separate chapters on recognition tests, recall and association tests, opinion and attitude ratings, projective methods, laboratory testing and analyses of content, and inquiries and sales measures. Since no single technique of advertising research could possibly begin to answer all research questions, various combinations of research techniques should be considered in dealing with a specific research question. Accordingly, both the advantages and the disadvantages of each research method are analyzed and appraised separately. Part Two explains the basic media concepts. There are separate chapters on printed-media audiences, television and radio audiences, exposure of advertisements, audiences of advertisements, kinds of people in media audiences, and attitudes of media audiences; the book ends with a discussion of audience accumulations and combinations and the implications of mathematical programing. So far as we know, this is the only comprehensive study of media research and evaluation; and a great deal of the material analyzed is not available in most libraries." (by Darrell Blaine Lucas, Steuart Henderson Britt)

Measuring Advertising Effectiveness (Marketing)

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Measuring Advertising Effectiveness (Marketing)
D.B. Lucas , and Steuart Henderson Britt
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0070389365

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Measuring Advertising Effectiveness.
Darrell Blaine & Britt, Steuart Henderson. Lucas
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Book Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KJD792

Revising the rules in measuring the effectiveness of an ad campaign.(Dealer Dollars): An article from: Powersports Business

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Revising the rules in measuring the effectiveness of an ad campaign.(Dealer Dollars): An article from: Powersports Business
Hal Ethington
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Powersports Business, published by Thomson Gale on June 5, 2006. The length of the article is 702 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Revising the rules in measuring the effectiveness of an ad campaign.(Dealer Dollars)
Author: Hal Ethington
Publication: Powersports Business (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 5, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 9 Issue: 8 Page: 45(1)

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Which half? Measuring tricky.(Adworks)(is advertising working?): An article from: Mississippi Business Journal

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Which half? Measuring tricky.(Adworks)(is advertising working?): An article from: Mississippi Business Journal
Tim Mask
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B000JCDA4M
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Mississippi Business Journal, published by Thomson Gale on August 28, 2006. The length of the article is 970 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Which half? Measuring tricky.(Adworks)(is advertising working?)
Author: Tim Mask
Publication: Mississippi Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 28, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 28 Issue: 35 Page: 39(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Attempts at measuring the effectiveness of advertising

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Attempts at measuring the effectiveness of advertising
Marcel Marc
Manufacturer: R. L. Dupuy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Measuring Advertising Effectiveness (Marketing)
D.B.; Britt, Steuart Henderson Lucas
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFKLVY

Measuring the effectiveness of your business films

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Measuring the effectiveness of your business films
C. T Smith
Manufacturer: Association of National Advertisers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007HSU4E

Book Description

Small is beautiful--but how small is small, and what practical steps can we take to achieve its beauty? By the 21st century we may have found the answer: the "creative compartment," a group of a few hundred people who work together in a totally open way. The intense communication within a compartment generates enormous adaptability and a creative problem-solving capability seldom found in today's organizations. In Creative Compartments, Gerard Fairtlough draws on his wide experience and on a profound analysis of the operation and interaction of small organizations. He sets out a clear agenda for organizational design, and his novel proposals will benefit anyone in any organization--large or small, business or nonprofit--who strives for continuing success into the 21st century.

Customer Reviews:

A step toward democracy?.......2003-05-14

This is another in the growing family of books which discusses the structure of organisations to replace traditional hierarchy and build empowerment within the framework of a knowledge based economy.

The difference, and what makes it worth reading, is that its author has a long history as a successful chief executive - both of a large division within Shell and of a start-up biotechnology company - refining his ideas and putting them to the test in practice.

He discusses the conditions in which people will work effectively together with minimal reliance on authority. The title reflects his view that this can occur when organisations are arranged in 'compartments' of not more than two or three hundred people, within which there is completely open communication - with heavy reliance on building informal communication links, a high degree of democracy and great emphasis on designing working relationships for organisational learning. A somewhat different set of rules, in his view, should mediate relationships between compartments and between groups of compartments and the outside world.

In developing his thesis, Fairtlough makes use of the concept of 'heterarchy', a somewhat clumsy term, but one which is used to distinguish leadership in which responsibility and authority are shared by everybody from 'hierarchy', in which authority flows from the top and from 'anarchy' where there is no authority. Its virtue as a concept is that it reconciles the idea of empowerment with that of a residual hierarchical power, by clarifying the domains in which each operates.

This is a thoughtful and well read chief executive writing informally and with a great deal of relevant anecdote, for people who face similar issues to himself. I think many senior managers will find wisdom and useful practical advice in it.

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Creative Compartments (Adamantine Studies on the 21st Century)
Gerard Fairtlough
Manufacturer: Adamantine Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0744901049

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Creative Compartments: A Design for Future Organization (Praeger Studies on the 21st Century)
Gerard Fairtlough
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORJFVO

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Creative Compartments: A Design for Future Organization (Praeger Studies on the 21st Century)
Gerard Fairtlough
Manufacturer: Praeger Paperback
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORLKIA

Amazon.com

If patterns are good ideas that can be re-applied to new situations, AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis looks at what goes wrong in software development, time and time again. This entertaining and often enlightening text defines what seasoned developers have long suspected: despite advances in software engineering, most software projects still fail to meet expectations--and about a third are cancelled altogether.

The authors of AntiPatterns draw on extensive industry experience, their own and others, to help define what's wrong with software development today. They outline reasons why problem patterns develop (such as sloth, avarice, and greed) and proceed to outline several dozen patterns that can give you headaches or worse.

Their deadliest hit list begins with the Blob, where one object does most of the work in a project, and Continuous Obsolescence, where technology changes so quickly that developers can't keep up. Some of the more entertaining antipatterns include the Poltergeist (where do-nothing classes add unnecessary overhead), the Boat Anchor (a white elephant piece of hardware or software bought at great cost) and the Golden Hammer (a single technology that is used for every conceivable programming problem). The authors then proceed to define antipatterns oriented toward management problems with software (including Death by Planning and Project Mismanagement, along with several miniature antipatterns, that help define why so many software projects are late and overbudget).

The authors use several big vendors' technologies as examples of today's antipatterns. Luckily, they suggest ways to overcome antipatterns and improve software productivity in "refactored solutions" that can overcome some of these obstacles. However, this is a realistic book, a mix of "Dilbert" and software engineering. A clever antidote to getting too optimistic about software development, AntiPatterns should be required reading for any manager facing a large-scale development project. --Richard Dragan

Book Description

"The AntiPatterns authors have clearly been there and done that when it comes to managing software development efforts. I resonated with one insight after another, having witnessed too many wayward projects myself. The experience in this book is palpable." -John Vlissides, IBM Research "This book allows managers, architects, and developers to learn from the painful mistakes of others. The high-level AntiPatterns on software architecture are a particularly valuable contribution to software engineering. Highly recommended!" -Kyle Brown Author of The Design Patterns Smalltalk Companion "AntiPatterns continues the trend started in Design Patterns. The authors have discovered and named common problem situations resulting from poor management or architecture control, mistakes which most experienced practitioners will recognize. Should you find yourself with one of the AntiPatterns, they even provide some clues on how to get yourself out of the situation." -Gerard Meszaros, Chief Architect, Object Systems Group Are you headed into the software development mine field? Follow someone if you can, but if you're on your own-better get the map! AntiPatterns is the map. This book helps you navigate through today's dangerous software development projects. Just look at the statistics:
* Nearly one-third of all software projects are cancelled.
* Two-thirds of all software projects encounter cost overruns in excess of 200%.
* Over 800f all software projects are deemed failures.
While patterns help you to identify and implement procedures, designs, and codes that work, AntiPatterns do the exact opposite; they let you zero-in on the development detonators, architectural tripwires, and personality booby traps that can spell doom for your project. Written by an all-star team of object-oriented systems developers, AntiPatterns identifies 40 of the most common AntiPatterns in the areas of software development, architecture, and project management. The authors then show you how to detect and defuse AntiPatterns as well as supply refactored solutions for each AntiPattern presented.

Customer Reviews:

lots of good stuff.......2007-04-24

A must read, in addition to reading "Design Patterns". A good compilation of reasons and events why many software projects fail in our days. Also recommend reading "How to Fail At Software Development" to compliment this. There are also a few "Design Patterns" books, including the GoF's, and the blonde skinny girl cover "Head-First" series. Looking forward to discussing the anti-patterns with co-workers to disseminiate the info. I assume every software dev. type person read "Code Complete", right?

worth a read.......2007-03-27

This book starts slowly. I put it down more than once before I got as far as the catalog of anti-patterns. Once there, I found some useful information on what goes wrong with software projects and how to address the problem areas.

I would characterize this book as "experiences with software engineering" in general. There is a fair amount on architectural principles, design, and even management topics that were worth the read.

helps to improve situation in software projects.......2007-01-23

I bought this book eight years ago in January 1999.
At that time I was employed with a company, which had
several anti patterns in use. Using this book I was able
to improve the situations by having constructive discussions
with the CEO.

The book is structered into three parts; these are Software Development,
Software Architecture and Project Management AntiPatterns. The technical
examples given in the first two parts are quite outdated. Since the first
release of the book more developers have knowledge about object oriented programming.
Therefore the part about software development has lost some of its benefit.
However, the third part about project management is still valid today.

Although the content is humorous, it is constructive as it offers
advice on how to change the condition. Every patterns contains
a section titled "Refactored Solution", which explains how the problem
can be resolved. If you are a developer in a company and you recognize
anti patterns in your project, the first thing you need to do is to
tell your manager that a problem exists. And this is the most difficult
part as most manager might deny that problems exist in their projects. But
once you and your manager agree on that, it should be possible to apply
the refactored solution.

This book also allows you the judge the quality of the company you work
for. If you see plenty of anti patterns in your company and none of the manangers
is willing to recognize their existence, look for new employment opportunities.

I don't give this book the maximum number of points as some of its content is
not up to date any more. The authors should consider revising the first
two parts about software development and software architecture.

The dark side of software development.......2005-11-07

Developers might say that the many chapters in this book about managing (projects) makes it a management book. Managers on the other hand, might think that chapters on software code review, and stuff like that, is not relevant for them.
In my view, both managers and developers would be wrong.

Surely, developers should know about management of large software projects, just as managers should have a feel for technical details in a software project. Without this knowledge (of what other people are supposed to be doing) surely software projects are in for bad times.

So, in my view this kind of book should be read by both management and developers. Knowing these anti patterns (the problem) is the first step in avoiding them.
And I think the book does an excellent job in describing the anti patterns.

Not so sure about the solutions though. Ok, projects are managed bad, systems are designed bad, code is written bad. And its fun to read about - if you don't have the particular problem yourself - But as other reviewers have written, something clearly has to do with human nature and not just work procedures.

Anyhow, the book should make you think about what is going on (in your project) - and thats a good thing.

-Simon

And the next thing you know your momma is a pattern.......2005-07-18

Printed in 1998 this book is likely to have been in the works in 1996-1997, the very beginning of the patterns movement. A scientifically important step, possibly, but not worth the book. A tendency to find patterns in everything (Golden Hammer is it ?) has played a cruel joke - the book is an anti-pattern in itself.

All that you will learn by reading this book is that software development is in big trouble and nothing could save it. Projects are managed bad, systems are designed bad, code is written bad. But what's the force behind that ? Human nature, that's what ! Seven sins literally are being blamed for the software problems.

Look, I _fully_agree_, but what's the point in finding the funny called patterns in human behavior ? It sure happens in all industries (patterns themselves came from architecture after all), and shouldn't we be reading psychology instead ?

Now, let's see, how the (IT) books should not be written no matter what:

- No observable structure in content, on either book, chapter or page level. So much dust, nothing sticks.

- Written by a committee of admittedly high professionals, this book is ignorant to the audience. Names for the patterns are likely to be taken from their own academic environments, and not only they frequently have no universal meaning (ex. Lava Flow or Cover Your Assets), but worse - the reader is expected to know the English folklore of rather specific sort. As I'm not a native English speaker, I wouldn't know what a Blowhard Jamboree (or The Grand Old Duke Of York) is unless I look in the dictionary. And what are the chances that I come up with this name later when I need to recall the familiar looking anti-pattern ?

- Layout and formatting looks like it's been quickly put up and had no designer to it. Tables and diagrams that look similar or identical although the underlying matter they are explaining is completely different. Pictures are ugly (although comical) and share no style.

- The appendix dictionary of patterns following the book contains, say, 50 assorted items coming from different areas and they are put in alphabetical order for God's sake.

There probably are better anti-patterns books by the time of this review, then you'd better get them instead.

Average customer rating:

boring and without information
A Worthwhile Read for Project Managers
Boring
No PHM's need apply
Admiration and Warning

AntiPatterns in Project Management
William J. Brown , Hays W. "Skip" McCormick III , and Scott W. Thomas
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471363669

Amazon.com

Written for the project manager or IT professional, AntiPatterns in Project Management describes 18 "AntiPatterns" that can go wrong in the realm of software project management, plus management techniques and tips to overcome them. Filled with real-world insight and case studies that describe actual projects gone awry, this title gives a solid measure of management expertise that can help you succeed with your next project.

Early sections of the text set the tone with management techniques that stress standards and rigorous software processes. The authors discuss the importance of managing people, technology, and processes for successful project management. While most books on patterns keep descriptions short and almost schematic, an entire chapter--filled with background material on the causes, solutions (or "refactoring") to move beyond it, and examples borrowed from the field--is devoted to each AntiPattern. (The names of companies have been changed, which makes for less dramatic reading, although this was no doubt a legal necessity.)

Anyone who has worked in software development will recognize many of the AntiPatterns here. First, bad management and bad management practices get their due--managers who don't or can't manage, projects that are late and require that staff be added at the last minute, and obstreperous employees (or "corncobs") who can't or won't work in teams.

Descriptions of technology AntiPatterns include troubles with distributed technologies, lack of architecture, demos that grow into unusable "finished" software, and software that hasn't undergone any planning at all. When it comes to process management, things can go wrong, too, as in the case of misapplied software life cycles. (In this section, the book lists no fewer than nine different software life cycles from which you can choose.) Other process AntiPatterns include customers who drive software design all the way through to disaster, the "domino effect" of changes to staff that can destroy team effectiveness, and management that demands adherence to an already late shipping date. Final sections show how these AntiPatterns often occur in conjunction. The book concludes with some "critical aspects" for successful project management.

Although a bit theoretical at times, this title has plenty of practical advice on improving your everyday project-management success. As the authors note, the great majority of software projects today are considered failures. By reading this savvy and well-organized volume, and analyzing what can go wrong, you can improve the odds in your favor in future development efforts. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

Introduction to AntiPatterns for project managers
Standards, refactoring, and solutions for AntiPatterns
Case studies
People-management AntiPatterns (Micro-management, Corporate Craziness, The Brawl, Size Isn't Everything, Chaos, and Process Disintegration)
Technology management AntiPatterns (Batteries Not Included, Distributed Disaster, Gilding the Lily, Wherefore Art Thou Architecture, Killer Demo, and One-Shot Deal)
Process-management AntiPatterns (Planning 911, Lifecycle Malpractice [including nine software life cycles], The Customer/Too Many Hands in the Soup, One Size Fits All, The Domino Effect, and Myopic Delivery)
AntiPattern collisions
Best practices for project management
Strategies for improving project management

Book Description

Everything you need to anticipate and avoid the major pitfalls of project management-and ensure success! AntiPatterns in Project Management From the authors of the bestselling series on AntiPatterns come twenty new proven and practical solutions for successfully managing your software development project. in their familiar and entertaining style, the authors explore every phase of software development and identify the complex interaction of people, technology, and process issues that can cause a software development project to fail. With their pull-no-punches approach to project management, you'll learn how to balance these issues and ensure software development success. This book arms you with:
* 6 People AntiPatterns that provide proven solutions to the people problems that occur within software development projects
* 6 Technology AntiPatterns that help you deal with poor architectures and designs, and unstable technologies
* 6 Processes AntiPatterns that help you uncover and correct the bad processes that ultimately cause a project to fail
* The Standards AntiPattern that covers how to avoid the pitfalls and gain the benefits of adopting software development standards
* The Collision AntiPattern that helps you successfully identify and eliminate multiple AntiPatterns that plague software development projects across different life-cycle phases, involving the disciplines of project management, software configuration management, and software development

Customer Reviews:

boring and without information.......2007-06-09

This is the second book on Antipatterns I have read (Brown was also an author in another in the same "subject"). I think that the first one was much better (style, explanations, usefulness,etc.). This book does not add information if you compare with the first one.

A Worthwhile Read for Project Managers.......2002-12-04

A very talented software engineer highly recommended this book to me as an engineering manager. I was intrigued to find that some of the Amazon.com reviews were sooooo negative. However, I bought the book anyway and found it to be quite useful.

The book uses the methodology of AntiPatterns, which is a hot topic in the software development community, to analyze problems with project management. This is simultaneously the book's strength and its weakness. Antipatterns are just one tool; one way of looking at the world; one way of analyzing a situation. Another useful addition to the toolkit is always welcome and the book clearly delivers one. On the other hand, if you are looking for the unified theory that will solve all project management problems, it doesn't deliver on that. (I am still looking for that book.)

One reason the book might receive mixed reviews is that it does have a tone of irreverence towards management. For example, in the Executive Summary, it says "The primary cause of software development failure is the lack of appropriate project management." While this may be true, some project managers may not enjoy reading about it. Similarly, the book has a tendency to identify the root cause of problems as "haste, ignorance or sloth", most likely on the part of management. This may be true, but perhaps not all that helpful or enjoyable to read.

Overall, I found the book to provide a valuable perspective on software project management. The book will not solve all of the world's project management problems but that's OK with me.
Read the book and use the principles wisely.

Boring.......2002-06-20

This book is dull compared to the first book in the series, "AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis". The authors take a reactive instead of proactive approach to project management. Read the four page antipattern synopsis in appendix B. The rest of the book regurgitates these items in expanded form. The text concentrates on project management problems and offers little in the solutions section. The antipattern named "standards" was helpful, however the material was duplicated from James Moore's book "Software Engineering Standards: A User's Roadmap".

No PHM's need apply.......2001-08-23

AntiPatterns in Project Management contains easily read and digested templates on people, technology, and process management antipatterns. The examples are concise, yet they offer enough information that experienced programmers and project managers will cringe when they read the stories. The antipattern templates are easy to read and understand. And they provide a consistent framework for the discussion about exceptions, refactored solutions, typical causes, etc.

Admiration and Warning.......2001-07-02

This is certainly an enlightening book, bringing up many points to consider. The writers are experienced, and though this results in an overly authoratative tone at times, their work is sound. The problem I have with the book is not actually the book itself. If a project manager can be so opened-minded as to step back and look at the problem with an accurate perspective, having a clear idea of all the facts of the case, they should be able to use this book to accurately diagnose and fix the problems they face. If they can't do that this book may be less useful.

On the other hand, reading this book adds perspective, which may be enough to help one step back from the situation and reevaluate.

In addition, since the authors reference their earlier works frequently, it might be best to read the other books first.

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