software – Page 2 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing & Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

By Scott J. Pearson | July 14, 2023July 14, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Most technology products begin with technologists playing in their environments. They then pick up steam when early visionaries figure out how to use it to expand their individual platforms and gain a competitive edge. However, many, if not most, products die there and never find their way to mainstream use. In this classic book, Geoffrey Moore explains why. The motives that drive these first two groups are different than the motives of mainstream customers, whom…

Universal Principles of UX: 100 Timeless Strategies to Create Positive Interactions between People & Technology

By Scott J. Pearson | March 7, 2023August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

UX is shorthand in the software industry for “user experience.” It’s often used in conjunction with UI, or “user interface.” In the world of the web, good user interfaces and user experiences can lead to successful, profitable websites – regardless of their function. Likewise, bad UIUX almost always leads to a website’s failure. Thus, specialists are often paid well to design and implement these aspects with skill. But in a world of ever-changing designs, how…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Agile Essentials: You Always Wanted to Know

By Scott J. Pearson | May 23, 2021May 23, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

I’ve worked as a software developer in Agile environments since around 2014 and have enjoyed the productivity and quality gains that this paradigm provides. This workplace loosely implements Agile and accomplishes amazing feats of productivity. In this book, Ashar distills Agile concepts into easy-to-read chunks that can be quickly implemented. This book empowers managers to organize their team’s work more effectively so that customers can benefit more readily. Ashar begins this guide by stating that…

Society Software-Technology

The Tangled Web We Weave: Inside The Shadow System that Shapes the Internet

By Scott J. Pearson | November 1, 2020November 1, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

First, I must confess my biases. I develop software (browser- and mobile-based) for a living. I have committed my career to bettering the US healthcare system, both research and medical. I understand how the Internet works, in highly technical (and boring) detail. I work in a non-profit research university lab but willingly work with for-profit products. I mention this because Ball’s main audience in this work seems to be the general public and not me.…

Software-Technology

Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time

By Scott J. Pearson | October 8, 2020October 8, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Relatively little is known about how to organize/manage software projects so that they come to a successful, on-time resolution that lasts the test of experience. This is the field of software engineering, and over the last two decades, Google has mastered this art. They share their hard-wrought wisdom in this book. Many developers, like me, wish they could undertake several internships at leading companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, or Facebook. They could learn the tricks…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change

By Scott J. Pearson | February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

This book helped change the way that software development is generally practiced, from the leadership to the programmers, from the business to the design. It is important to note that this book has been delivered in two very different editions. The first edition in 1999 set the direction while the second edition in 2005 brought insight out of several years of experience in an updated text. What’s so “extreme” about Extreme Programming? First, it advocates…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

By Scott J. Pearson | September 14, 2019October 11, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Techniques called “agile” comprise a more iterative approach to developing software. In many ways, it treats software as an open text instead of a fixed product. Agile development is used in most leading software shops around the world. This book treats a specific element of agile development – the retrospective. After each iteration or release, the team is gathered to discuss the last period of time and to seek improvement for the next time. This…

Fiction-Stories Management-Business Software-Technology

Review: The Phoenix Project

By Scott J. Pearson | August 4, 2019August 4, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

I’m reading this book to be prepared for a software launch that might happen in the next few months. I read a book like this to ensure that I am on top of my IT game when it comes to responding to life forces. Stories like this tell how powerful information technology can be at transforming organizations when coupled with a simple desire to learn from each other. Too often, those in IT keeps their…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Review: The DevOps Handbook

By Scott J. Pearson | July 28, 2019July 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

DevOps is a movement about the management of computer programmers. It basically says that Development (coding) and Operations (deployment and maintenance) should communicate more and better. Such workability allows for better error detection, swifter deployment of code, etc. Interestingly, I’ve worked mainly in research environments where I’ve been in charge of both Development and Operations at the same time. I worked in a corporation with separate Dev and Ops for a few years – and…