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Software Craftsmanship/The New Imperative Pete McBreen. 2002. Boston: Addison-Wesley. 192 pages. ISBN 0-201-73386-2 (CSQE Body of Knowledge areas: Software Engineering Processes)
Reviewed by Milt Boyd
"Software Craftsmanship is written for programmers who want to become exceptional at their craft and for the project manager who wants to hire them. The author presents a method to nurture mastery in the programmer, develop creative collaboration in small developer teams, and enhance communications with the customer" (taken from the back cover).
The author is an independent consultant, with many years of experience in formal and informal process improvement initiatives. He believes that "software development is meant to be fun. If it isn't, the process is wrong." His Web site is http://www.mcbreen.ab.ca/.
McBreen contrasts software craftsmanship and software engineering projects in several ways.
* Size: a small corps of master craftsmen (with journeymen, and a few apprentices) vs. an army of average engineers
* People: individuals with established reputations for results vs. interchangeable employees with certificates and licenses
* Product: really good software (exemplified by Open Source software) vs. good enough software (typified by most commercial bloatware)
He compares the development of...