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Books From Requirements That Work Seminar
Suggested reading for product managers and marketers
| The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management by Tom DeMarco What a fun book! It's a delightful novel about product management and a massive project. Our hero is kidnapped by a despot of a new country who wants to create a thriving software industry. As the plot progresses, we learn techniques and rules for effective product and project management. |
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| The Inmates Are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper Written for software executives and managers, this book reveals the inner workings of a development project and shows why we struggle to create marketable products in a meaningful timeframe. Of particular interest to product managers is the discussion of user personas and use cases. These are applicable to both development requirements as well as positioning to the target user-buyers, by helping us focus on particular users and uses instead of the generic. |
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| Software Requirements by Karl E. Wiegers "Requirements" are essential for creating successful software because they let users and developers agree on what features will be delivered in new systems. Karl Wiegers's Software Requirements shows you how to define and get more out of software requirements with dozens of "best practices" and tips that make this book a valuable resource for both software project managers and developers. |
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| About Face 3.0: The Essentials of User Interface Design by Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann and David Cronin This book discusses the value of design in the development process, an area where we are unfortunately lacking in high-tech. Designed for product managers and their development counterparts, it drills down into user interface design with ample case studies to bring home the value of designing instead of just coding. |
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| Extreme Programming Installed by Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, Chet Hendrickson Extreme Programming offers a logical approach to developing code on time. This book illustrates the XP principles in action, giving detailed advice on how to implement this methodology. The chapter on estimating using "stories" and 3x5 cards is worth the purchase price of the book. From the preface: "How much would you pay for a software development team that would do what you want?" Written by developers for anyone working on software, this books given concrete advice on applying XP to any project. Also helpful for the principles of XP is Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck. |
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| Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests by Jeffrey Rubin How do you test and measure the user interface? "Handbook of Usability Testing" is a guide for someone who will be performing usability tests and would like guidelines, report formats, and technique suggestions. |
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| Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Usability by Steve Krug, Roger Black While focusing on web site design Steve Krug teaches basic usability design that can be applied to any user experience. Instead of a circular discussion in a committee of what will or will not work, he tells us that a quick validation with ANYONE is preferable. Testing your concept on ONE person is infinitely better than guessing. The short chapter on “Usability testing on 10 cents a day” is worth the price of the book. Software developers and product managers (not just web designers) should embrace this book to learn how to think about interface from a customer perspective and how to create software products and sites that delight. |
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| The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans--from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools--must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed. |
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| User Interface Design for Programmers by Joel Spolsky Joel discusses user interface considerations in this book written by a programmer for programmers, beginning with the cardinal rule of all UI design: "A user interface is well designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would." The book is filled with common sense advice on using metaphors, designing for extremes, performing usability tests, and programming for mistakes. His writing style is refreshing; you'll find this book fun to read. Be sure to check out Joel On Software for more of his musings. |
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