[Copyright 1995, 2009 by Bruce F. Webster. All rights reserved. Last updated: 02/03/2009]
Back in the mid 1990s, I wrote and published two books in what I later called my “semi-planned trilogy” on developing, marketing, and deploying information technology: Pitfalls of Object-Oriented Development and The Art of ‘Ware. The third book, as yet uncompleted, has the tentative title of Surviving Complexity. The first two are now out of print, but I own the copyrights, and because they are each out of print, the publishing rights have reverted back to me as well (as per the original contract on each). My plan is to revamp, revise, and complete the entire trilogy, and to do it here on the blog. For now, I am happy to make the work in progress public, and I welcome any and all comments and suggestions.
The Art of ‘Ware [Version 2.0] is a re-interpretation of Suntzu pingfa (“Sun Tzu’s Art of War”), a classic work on strategy and conflict dating back to the 6th century BC. In The Art of ‘Ware, I took each of Sun Tzu’s maxims and recast it as it applies to developing and marketing information technology. The maxims in version 2.0 are not likely to change that much from my first edition, though I will be comparing them to some of the newer and better translations of The Art of War (based on more ancient copies). What I would like for this second edition are real-world examples (or counter-examples) of the maxims, much as have appeared in various editions of Suntzu pingfa over the centuries. In the meantime, I have a complete first draft of version 2.0 on line in both web-format and as a PDF file that can be downloaded, distributed, and printed.
Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering (PMSE, or “PimSee” for short) replaces Pitfalls of Object-Oriented Development. As reviews of the original book noted, many of the pitfalls therein are generic to software engineering and IT project management. Since most of my professional work since 1995 has encompassed why projects fail and how to help them succeed, I felt the book itself should be expanded to cover all aspects of IT development. I have started work on PMSE, including drafting an initial cut at a revised introduction.
Surviving Complexity is a work I’ve been contemplating since 1997 or so. While PMSE tends to focus on tactical errors and risks, Surviving Complexity covers what I believe to be a set of fundamental, intractable problems faced by any organization that seeks to develop, deploy, market or otherwise make use of information technology. The problems must be acknowledged, managed, and dealt with; efforts to sidestep them or simply ignore them lead to massive IT project failures and other costly forms of financial and legal exposure.
I may post other works here as I get to them, but for now, these are the ones I want to focus on and complete. Publishers, you should feel free to contact me if you are interested in publishing these books. Otherwise, I may look at self-publishing avenues once they are completed.
[...] 2008 by Bruce F. Webster. All rights reserved. Adapted from Surviving Complexity [...]