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Product: Book - Hardcover
Title: Applying UML and Patterns : An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development (3rd Edition) Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR Authors: Craig Larman Rating: 5/5  While the technical aspect and the content of this book has been well described by editorial reviews and other users, little has been mentioned with regard to the writing style and how the "OOA/D thought" has been embedded in the text. First, this book organizes many mini topics into each individual chapter so that a reader won't feel burned out before completing a topic. Secondly, the author gives good examples to illustrate the OOA/D concept and make you "think" through it rather than memorizing it. Most importantly, the author takes an iterative approach to educate the readers so that a person will build skillful knowledge on prior chapters from the book. The best thing is that if you follow the thought of the author, by the time you complete the reading you will obtain the skill without memorizing them.
Product: Book - Paperback
Title: User Stories Applied : For Agile Software Development (Addison-Wesley Signature Series) Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Authors: Mike Cohn Rating: 4/5  Devising the specifications for a software project can be a squishy affair. A programmer may not be skilled at eliciting requirements from users. This can be very much a qualitative, fuzzy interaction. Far removed from writing of code, where one can usually objectively measure the functionality. But Cohn points out that the users' needs cannot be ignored for the project to be successful. He says that in the drawing up of these needs, the effort should be equally influenced by both the users and the programmers. An imbalance here can adversely affect the usefulness of the project. He devotes the book towards what he says the group should draw up. User stories. These are functionalities needed by the eventual users. He considers user stories to be of lesser scope than use cases, where the latter may be better known to most. The main merit of a user story seems to be that it involves a "bite-sized" programming effort. He suggests less than 10 days of development. So that a team could quickly iterate through several development cycles, with the cost of a bad choice of user story being small.
Product: Book - Paperback
Title: The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Authors: Jef Raskin Rating: 4/5 This is possibly the most rewarding UI book I have read. I say that because it takes a constructive approach - actually suggesting novel solutions to problems rather than just stating that "the mouse is dead", "menus are passe" etc. The latter style frustrates, as its obvious the author doesnt have any better ideas (or if they do, they're not willing to share them!). The other good thing about Raskin's book is that it encourages the reader to think about their own solutions to common UI problems. This second point is where my caveat comes in. Raskin's suggestions prompted my own creativity because his are so extreme! Resist the temptation to take Raskin's suggestions as gospel. I think they intended more to stimulate debate over UI elements we take for granted. Those of us who have used computers since the early 80s (or earlier) might be tempted by Raskin's rather zealous "back-to-the-good-ole-days" ideas, such as dedicated function keys on the keyboard (he's very big on these) - but I don't see the 21st century PC novice warming to such ideas. Of course, if you disagree with Raskin's ideas, it means you're thinking about UI design, so you're getting your money's worth!
Product: Book - Paperback
Title: Contextual Design : A Customer-Centered Approach to Systems Designs Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Authors: Hugh Beyer, Karen Holtzblatt Rating: 5/5 I've been searching all over for good guides to the *process* of human-centered design as opposed to the techniques for good UI: This book is excellent on two counts 1. The principles and methods you advocate 2. The lack of competition, but this doesn't distract from the quality of the book. There are lots of books on how to do UI, but they all concentrate upon the widgets. This is the only one I have seen that really tells you how to go out and collect customer data, and then, what to do about it. I also like the way it deals with UI design -- do it only after the analysis -- resist the temptation to start the design too soon.
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