"Outside-in thinking complements any approach your teams may be taking to the actual implementation of software, but it changes how you measure success. A successful outside-in team does a lot of learning and not much speculation."

—Tom Poppendieck

Build Software That Delivers Maximum Business Value to Every Key Stakeholder

Imagine your ideal development project. It will deliver exactly what your clients need. It will achieve broad, rapid, enthusiastic adoption. And it will be designed and built by a productive, high-morale team of expert software professionals. Using this book's breakthrough "outside-in" approach to software development, your next project can be that ideal project.

In Outside-in Software Development, two of IBM's most respected software leaders, Carl Kessler and John Sweitzer, show you how to identify the stakeholders who'll determine your project's real value, shape every decision around their real needs, and deliver software that achieves broad, rapid, enthusiastic adoption.

The authors present an end-to-end framework and practical implementation techniques any development team can quickly benefit from, regardless of project type or scope. Using their proven approach, you can improve the effectiveness of every client conversation, define priorities with greater visibility and clarity, and make sure all your code delivers maximum business value.

Coverage includes

• Understanding your stakeholders and the organizational and business context they operate in

• Clarifying the short- and long-term stakeholder goals your project will satisfy

• More effectively mapping project expectations to outcomes

• Building more "consumable" software: systems that are easier to deploy, use, and support

• Continuously enhancing alignment with stakeholder goals

• Helping stakeholders manage ongoing change long after you've delivered your product

• Mastering the leadership techniques needed to drive outside-in development

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 7 Ratings

Great title. Content doesn't match up. - 2008-06-16
Reviewer Rating:
I'm not a developer (though I used to be), and now am on the dark side (marketing/product management). The concepts this book endorse, namely to focus on stakeholders and their needs, is exactly what needs to be done for new products. Unfortunately, I felt as though this book was written for new developers with little real world experience and I found myself looking for something new and useful. It didn't happen. If you really want to understand how to develop products by focusing on stakeholder goals, then try this one: User Stories Applied by Mike Cohen.

It is written for Agile Software development, but the concepts can be applied to any product and focuses you on WHAT GOALS DO USERS REALLY HAVE WHEN USING YOUR PRODUCT. If you understand this concept, you will be most effective at developing products.

A much needed perspective - 2007-11-30
Reviewer Rating:
First, by way of full disclosure, I have worked for Carl Kessler in the past. What this means, however, is that I can state that the material contained in this book is not speculative, or just simply "theory," but it embodies the way in which Carl has very effectively run large development organizations in developing enterprise level software that truly delights customers, and how John has been instrumental in those efforts.

The other reviewers of this book have already discussed one of the book's key notions, that of obtaining "stakeholder" perspectives as part of the process of designing software -- and it's an important notion that is explored thoroughly in the book. I can recommend the book just based on this one item alone.

However, there are three other key notions that the book addresses which, I believe, set it apart from other software development books. The first is the whole idea of "Consumability." If you've not heard of Consumability, you really need to learn more about it. It takes the concept of understanding a customer's perspective to a new level.

The second key point is how one defines the "success" of a project. For most in the software industry, it means either having shipped a product on schedule or having made the projected revenues (or, perhaps, both). As important as those "successes" are, what "Outside-in Software Development" encourages is that success also be defined in terms of the "success" of the customers of the product -- are they receiving the value promised by the product? If not, then perhaps the product's other "successes" will be short-lived...

And, finally, the last key idea I'd like to touch on (in order to further encourage you to read this book) is that of understanding your customer's organizational structure when designing products. Carl and John do an excellent job of explaining how this perspective is often overlooked by software designers and developers, but how important it is in ensuring your product really does permit your customers to be successful by using your product in their environment.

Highly recommended!

Outside-in SW development a realistic approach - 2008-01-03
Reviewer Rating:
Having worked in the software development industry for 20+ years, one reoccurring issue centers around who is the real 'customer'. While everyone likes to point to the party that will support their position, this book helps define the key stakeholders for any given software project. While the approach to designing software from the user (outside-in) perspective is simple and straight forward, it's extremely powerful by keeping development focused on what business problems each stakeholder strives to address. The topic of consumability is also key to delivering high quality. This is a must read for all software engineers from applications right down to firmware.

A top pick for any college-level collection - 2007-12-02
Reviewer Rating:
OUTSIDE-IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO BUILDING SUCCESSFUL STAKEHOLDER-BASED PRODUCTS comes from two respected IBM industry leaders and tells how to build software which identifies project value and addresses key needs. These implementation techniques offer a program and approach any development team can use, making this a top pick for any college-level collection strong in either project management or software engineering development.

a solid book - 2007-11-03
Reviewer Rating:
"Outside-in Software Development" is about looking at software from the point of view of the stakeholders. As such, it contains definitions of the different types of stakeholders after the chapter one sales pitch.

The flow charts added clarity to the descriptions. The business analysis pitfalls were also useful. I enjoyed reading about the importance of "consumability"- how easy it is for the user to focus on their meta-tasks. Coverage of globabilization (internationalization) and accessibility was good as well. The example stories make the book easy to read. The book also covers transitioning from waterfall and integration with six sigma.

The biook targets all groups - managers, business analysts, developers, etc. They accomplish this well. Overall this book was a good read.

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