"I say what I think to hear what I know."
(Unknown)

Foreword

I have done a lot of software projects in the last 20 years and have had a lot of discussions with customers, project members and course members about the methods and the do's and don'ts of software engineering. Now I really start writing down my experience and my opinions about it. I know that there are a lot of books and essays around about software engineering, but in most times there is reviewed only one aspect and usually it's far away from reality. The real effective and local know how of an insider about the currently required doings usually comes up in rules of the thumb that have proven their effectiveness but that are difficult to be described formally. These are the "best practices" that I would like to hand on.

My personal focus by the way is on the first and last stage of a software project - the middle part is just technical doing to me that has become easier and easier over the years and will become quite automated in the near future. When you really know what is to be done in the certain project, then the technical translation is not the main problem that can't be handled. The first stages of the project are by far the most important ones!

A very small sample for about all that I'm writing in this essay is the little game that I show up in the appendix.

Currently this essay is still a collection of headwords in wide areas, but it expands nearly every week. Feedback is always welcome, so don't hesitate: eMail@RalfBuerger.de

Ralf Bürger - 23.12.2001

At this point I want to thank all the customers that admitted to show up some parts of our combined efforts as samples within this essay. That brings a lot of aspects and explanations closer to reality.

Ralf Bürger - 21.05.2003