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Provides the detail of a language for expressing clearly the various dimensions involved in successful planning. The language, called 'Planguage', has been developed as the means to bring clarity, specificity and quantification to business and technical plans and specifications. 

"Competitive Engineering"  is accompanied by a comprehensive glossary of 'Planguage' terms and concepts. The glossary can be accessed online at CE Glossary (N. America) or CE Glossary (outside N. America).

You can learn more about the methods in this book in Tom Gilb's seminars, conference presentations and training courses - more...

Principle of Software Engineering Management (known as "POSEM" within Tom's circle).

Don't be misled by the title, the profound principles in this book apply just as importantly to: business management, project management, system implementation, product development, change management, organisational development... you name it!

Tom covers a range of techniques in this book including evolutionary delivery, requirements specification and document inspection  (he later elaborated on Inspection in his co-authored Software Inspection book and tied-down many of the  other concepts further in his Competitive Engineering book).

Ultimately, the book is about clear thinking in how to define, quantify and achieve business goals in a very fast-changing world. Btt uses these principles and methods in all of its professional activities.

Published in 1988, POSEM has proved to be a timeless classic. If you are a manager, regardless of whether in software or not, you must read it. This book will probably change your thinking forever, and not only on how to manage your organisation and projects.

On the other hand, if you are a proponent of the UK's PRINCE2 or similar 'structured' project management methodology, you will find this book distressing, far too practical and should avoid it!
 

Software Inspection (co-authored with Dorothy Graham)

Although titled 'Software Inspection', the bigger subject covered in this book is Document Inspection - particularly inspection of planning documents.

Document Inspection applies very powerfully to any technical or business planning pursuit.  Tom's research shows there are typically over 100 major planning defects on every significant page of the planning documents (eg. project proposals, business cases, etc) produced within leading multinational corporations; and that's after the documents have been revieed and received management approval. If you find that hard to believe, Tom will happily demonstrate the truth of it with your own examples of business or technical documents. Be warned - the results will be scary.

The book explains how Document Inspection has very different aims and disciplines to those of reviews, peer reviews or walkthroughs. Generally, a Document Inspection would precede any of those activities and in doing so, increase their value enormously.

Btt used Document Inspection with a software house client. Although it may at times seem a ho-hum and 'dull but worthy subject', Inspection was an outstandingly effective technique for the software house to help them quickly achieve dramatically improved performance in... regularly delivering, high-quality commercial software to published deadlines.

You can learn more about using Inspection in the New Agile Inspection & Review Process training course - more...

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