Unlike many other sources on the web, this book is not for technical users (providers of services) but rather for non-technical and less technical folks: business owners and managers who want to develop software (or buyers of software development services). Many readers might be engaging in a software project for the first time, and information on this web site will be immensely helpful. The content covers many "non-technical" areas of building a software, as those are quite often overlooked. It gives you an insider view of a software developer – understanding how software development works will help you to get the best out of your suppliers or in-house technical team. This information should be especially useful for people who engage in projects requiring from two to twelve man-months of effort (with an average budget ranging from £10k to £100k). Such projects are medium-sized in web development terms, and small in software development terms. They are in between a "web site" in the common sense and an enterprise-level web application. Those projects can be quite risky as they involve many compromises, most importantly inexperience on both the supplier and the developer ends. On those projects keeping to defined software development methodologies, employing a dedicated QA team or using enterprise-level frameworks are usually out of the question. Some more technical areas will be only slightly touched upon, as there are ample resources to cover them. We have tried to be open-minded when writing this book, but we realise that in some places we can be somewhat opinionated, strongly taking "developer's" side. Although we have not tried to be intentionally controversial, you will notice that some of our ideas deviate substantially from generally accepted views! This is not a comprehensive how-to guide, but rather a set of essays on related topics that will help you think about how to structure your way towards your goals. To navigate your way around the site, please use the menu on the left panel; also, have a look at the site map; and finally here are a few articles that can get you started. A New Software Project – Is This For Me? How to find and hire the best software / web development company Outsourcing or using a team in house? The marketplace Are they right for you? How to minimise your risk and get better returns The basics - what you must know abut software development None-functional software qualities Software Testing Technologies for web projects - a no-nonsense, non-technical guide Web based software and client-server architecture C# and what it is good for Java and web programming What is PHP and when should we choose it? |