Review: Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures

Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures by Bruce R. Barringer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Among three different university textbooks on entrepreneurship that I read this one is definitely the best one. I use it most in my teaching tenure. Clear structure and language, logical build-up of chapters and topics, good illustrating case studies and examples of real companies.

It's pity that it is still very much US-focused, although being an international edition.

Sangar - a good customer experience

In general, I don't like shopping. And especially shopping for clothes. But recently I had one very good experience with buying a shirt. I ordered a tailor-made shirt from Sangar, an Estonian company.

Reasonable price, very good service (not an obvious thing in Estonia) and - most importantly - very good result. Now I have got a shirt made by Estonian masters within three weeks from ordering which totally suits me (it is often hard to find well-sitting clothes for a rather tall and rather thin guy like me).

I hope companies like Sangar will develop and grow internationally more and more. Maybe in the the future it will get to the same level where Eton and Stenströms are now?

Review: Specification by Example: How Successful Teams Deliver the Right Software

Specification by Example: How Successful Teams Deliver the Right Software by Gojko Adzic

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A book on how to create and deliver software which is (a) quality; (b) what is needed; (c) not more than needed. One way to achieve that is needs and requirements specification together with clients. In addition, using different examples illustrating what software is supposed to do.

Capturing needs, not scripts - that is probably one of the most important messages from the book.

All in all, there are very good ideas and practices presented (many of them are still ahead of their time), albeit in somewhat preaching mode. Sometimes, the book becomes repetitive - and quotes from different teams often do not add additional value. I would also like to have read more concrete examples - on both requirements as well as the programming code itself. Otherwise, recommended to software analysts, developers and IT managers interested in (improving) software quality.

Triangle of choice in software development

Yesterday I had a chance to listen live to the true legends of lean software development principles who visited Tallinn: Mary and Tom Poppendieck

One of the main things I remember from this 2-hours long presentation:

An ordinary triangle of choice (a client has to give up one of them - can't get all three at the same time):

Time-Money-Quality

...should rather be thought of as:

                               Time-Money-Scope

...because there is anyway so much waste in software development.

And scope cannot be given up without having trust between vendor and client.

Wise thoughts.

Review: Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems

Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems by Steve Krug

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Short and effective, well-written and well-designed book about the Web site usability testing.
Main points of this book were covered in Krug's first book ("Don't Make Me Think"), but "Rocket Surgery Made Easy" goes more in details. Sometimes, the details become rather trivial.
All in all, an easy reading with several relevant recommendations, but it is probably enough reading only the first of the two books.

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Review: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A concise and sharp book on Web usability. Relevant examples and illustrations, great design of the book and a nice dose of wit - sure ingredients for an enjoyable reading. It is well written and easily read - the reader does not have to have any technical competence to grasp the meaning.

Recommended to anyone having to do with Web sites design and development - either developers, designers or managers

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3 months in Tallinn

Today, exactly three months ago, me and my wife moved to Tallinn, Estonia. After five years abroad I am back to Estonia. Tallinn has been somewhat alien city for me before, but I start liking it more now. I have discovered some great sides of it that I did not know about before - along with some other parts that I appreciated in the past and which I love even more now (read: Old Town, seaside, parks).

Somewhat surprisingly, I don't find life in Tallinn anyhow inferior to Oslo. I will perhaps write more about it some time in the future, when I will have lived more long-term here.

What I can say for sure - professionally - it is definitely more interesting to work in Estonia than in Norway (for me personally - can't say for anyone else): more opportunities to do something meaningful, more entrepreneurial attitude of people, better access to bigger responsibilities, more flexibility.

As for my personal passion - bicycle - the opportunities for riding the bike in the city are on roughly the same level in Tallinn as in Oslo (which means: so-so, but not too bad either). Good enough for me ;)

Me in Tallinn on my new bicycle (disclaimer: the picture was taken in September and the weather is not always as good as that day) :)

Review: Writing Effective Use Cases

Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book describes the methodology of putting the software requirements in written through the use cases. Very systematic and logical approach, clear and easy to understand guidelines for writing, quite good examples.

Sometimes, the methodology as a whole feels too dogmatic and sets quite strict limits. I did not find suggestions for schematic icons too useful either. Besides, the methodology feels a little bit outdated in 2012 (the book was written in 2001).

Overall, recommended to software analysts and software team leads - along with some newer books on the software requirements methodology.