A plead to Steve McConnell
I'm a fan of Steve McConnell's writing. But he has to stop working with Microsoft as his publisher if I'm going to be able to convince a high percentage of the people I know to read his books.
I've read McConnell's books, Rapid Application Development, Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers, and a little more than half of, Code Complete, Second Edition. Two of those books are published by Microsoft (RAD & Code Complete).
I rarely disagree with something I read that Steve McConnell says or writes. He's got a new book out, and it's called (on Amazon.com), Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art (Best Practices (Microsoft)) (Paperback).
I personally don't have a problem with Microsoft publishing his books. I know that he hasn't worked for MS in a very very long time and MS is (probably) more of a grammar checker/physical distributor than an influencing factor in his writing. But when I hand a developer, Code Complete, they see the Microsoft logo on the cover, snicker, and say, "Oh, it's a Microsoft book. Yeah, I'll read that." (In the most sarcastic voice humanely possible.) There is so much bad software associated with Microsoft that a lot of developers can't take a book about writing software from them seriously.
AND NOW
Steve McConnell comes out with (another) book about software scheduling (that is probably really frigg'n good), but it's got the Microsoft logo on it. What does everyone associated with Microsoft right now? (Other than the XBOX 360.)
The largest "scheduling" debacle in the history of the software industry, Windows Vista.
I'll eventually get his new book, think it's smart, and want to hand it to someone and they'll snicker and hand it back to me.
Steve, for the sake of my ability to hand someone, Code Complete, Third Edition: The dynamic language edition, please find another publisher. (Or maybe I should just rip the cover off the book....)
I've read McConnell's books, Rapid Application Development, Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers, and a little more than half of, Code Complete, Second Edition. Two of those books are published by Microsoft (RAD & Code Complete).
I rarely disagree with something I read that Steve McConnell says or writes. He's got a new book out, and it's called (on Amazon.com), Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art (Best Practices (Microsoft)) (Paperback).
I personally don't have a problem with Microsoft publishing his books. I know that he hasn't worked for MS in a very very long time and MS is (probably) more of a grammar checker/physical distributor than an influencing factor in his writing. But when I hand a developer, Code Complete, they see the Microsoft logo on the cover, snicker, and say, "Oh, it's a Microsoft book. Yeah, I'll read that." (In the most sarcastic voice humanely possible.) There is so much bad software associated with Microsoft that a lot of developers can't take a book about writing software from them seriously.
AND NOW
Steve McConnell comes out with (another) book about software scheduling (that is probably really frigg'n good), but it's got the Microsoft logo on it. What does everyone associated with Microsoft right now? (Other than the XBOX 360.)
The largest "scheduling" debacle in the history of the software industry, Windows Vista.
I'll eventually get his new book, think it's smart, and want to hand it to someone and they'll snicker and hand it back to me.
Steve, for the sake of my ability to hand someone, Code Complete, Third Edition: The dynamic language edition, please find another publisher. (Or maybe I should just rip the cover off the book....)
posted by Michael Sica at
11:48 AM
4 Comments:
I've gotten the same kinds of reactions to publishing with Microsoft Press that you have, and I'm sure you can imagine it hurts me more than it hurts you! On the other hand, Microsoft Press does an awesome job of promoting my books and getting them into bookstores that other technical book publishers just don't get into (like your average mall bookstore). So on balance I think it's a good tradeoff. There is also a part of me that thinks that people who blow off a book because it's published by Microsoft Press (literally judging the book by its cover) are probably unreachable anyway. As you say, that's pretty closed minded.
I'll disagree with one point in your blog entry -- the schedule for Windows Vista. While it's late, it doesn't even get into the first round of competition of famously late projects. Lotus 123 v. 3 was something like 3 years late, and about as high profile in its day as Windows Vista is now. One of the versions of Microsoft/IBM OS/2 was way later than Vista and equally high profile in its day. The original version of Word for Windows was 4 years late on a 1 year initial schedule. But certainly I do agree that associating with Windows Vista is not good for a book on estimation!
How often can you make a plea to someone, and they actually respond? :)
(Yes, it's actually Steve. I had an email exchange with him.)
Steve - Thanks for dropping by and posting your thoughts!
Let us not forget Duke Nukem Forever...it is going on what 10 years now.
I think that project is actually an inside joke by the company. The hint is in the name, "Forever". :)
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