[thelist] Web Development Methodology

Steve Lewis nepolon at worlddomination.net
Fri Feb 6 15:27:27 CST 2004


:dvm:desarrollo:web: wrote:

> I would like to know if anyone can point to a good methodology document 
> on web site development, stages to follow in a project from begining to 
> end.

I would very highly recommend _Rapid_Development_ by Steve McConnell. 
The author reviews a number of development methodologies, complete with 
an analysis of each method's strengths and weaknesses.   It also 
encompasses a number of good illustrations of best (and less-than-best) 
practices for software development and a strong argument for his 
balanced foundation environment.

Topics include: project management, team management, generating product 
specs, risk analysis, managing customer expectations and product 
quality/appropriateness, estimation of: timeline and price and number of 
bugs remaining at release, and improving code quality in addition to an 
extensive summary of development methodologies.

The author's focus is, as the publication year of 1996 might suggest, on 
traditional software development rather than web development, but the 
parallels between web development and the development styles he lays out 
are very strong and the lessons in this book are quite valuable to a web 
developer.  The value is, naturally, stronger when you work toward more 
highly complex projects or utilize more extensive server-side or 
client-side application development which complicate the desired 
product.  This is not a book on web /design/, as such, even if many 
fundamentals (esp customer relations) are common to both web design and 
web development work.

His writting is a blend of a casual narrative style and well researched 
and supported argument with extensive citation for further reading. 
While the book is 680 pages, approximately half of that is a detailed 
reference of the practices and techniques enumerated in the text, and 
the other half reads quickly.

Keeping in mind the publication date, there are a number of valuable 
ideas any reader can reenforce from McConnell's well articulated 
experience.  For most of us there will even be new things to learn. 
This book is an excellent guide to the conceptual world of development 
methodologies and I believe it to be worth the purchase price, 
especially if you find a used copy locally.

Steve


More information about the thelist mailing list