Shipping Greatness: Practical lessons on building and launching outstanding software, learned on the job at Google and Amazon [Paperback]

In the interest of Federal Trade Commission guidelines and covering my legal bases, I got this book free of charge via my involvement in the O'Reilly Media Blogger Review Program. That said, this review is entirely my opinion, after my reading of the book. I would also like to assure everyone that I was not paid to give any particular rating to the work, and that my rating is my personal choice.

Now let's get to the good stuff, which is the review itself.

If a university ever decided to teach a course on shipping great software, I enthusiastically nominate Chris Vander Mey for professor. After all, this book is practically a course already, with the added benefit of being speedy and concise.

Within its pages, you'll find not just the attitudes you need to build and launch outstanding software, but also the specific frameworks, along with the things you need to get done at each stage. It will also arm you with a load of examples for your benefit, including some cases from Vander Mey's own work at Amazon and Google.

More than that, Chris will be with you every step of the way, from the moment you begin to define the right product, all the way to dealing with crises during launch. At each stage of the process, he'll first show you the scaffolding you need to get in place, and then end strong by teaching you how to turn good to great.

In terms of the writing style, the attention to detail is sure to appeal to the analytic techies out there. Even if you're a veteran at the process, this book still has enough substance to make you feel at home. Even so, the simplicity of presentation will surely resound with anyone at any level.

Nowhere did the author cram the book with too much jargon, so even the newbies will find themselves comfortable. And yes, I can say that with confidence, because I write fiction and essays. Even with my background, I still found this book perfectly understandable.

In fact, I even spent three days getting to know software engineering, just because I wanted to deepen my knowledge. What can I say? The book got me motivated to learn more.

For me, that ability to arouse curiosity is what matters above all. While Shipping Greatness may appeal most to those in the tech field, the lessons and attitudes it imparts are relevant to people in all professions.

After all, this may be a book about shipping great software, but it's also a book about doing great work.

This is a little book of just over 200 pages that contains solid advice on the process of creating software products. I deliberately omitted the word "great" here and all its variations, though the author promises that his advice will help you lead a team that will create great software.

I have no argument with the author's advice. Two generations ago, Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft CEO, learned much the same lessons at Proctor & Gamble, then as now one of the great American marketing companies that maintains its leadership by introducing a constant stream of new products, all of which are "great" and most of which quickly die in the marketplace.

There is no question that if you faithfully follow the author's guidance, your product development process will be smoother. But there is no guaranty that your product will be "great".

One of the more amusing and potentially useful aspects of this book is its being loaded with tons of contemporary buzzwords.

Overall, I think this is a fun and helpful book, particularly for those new to the product (and business) development process. If I sound a bit jaded, it is because I have lived through three generations of books like this and read those of the two generations before mine.

The basic ideas don't change: only the jargon does.

Jerry

As a product manager, I really liked this book. Software product management is, as the author says, a "new craft", and finding good references on it is hard.

This book shares more practical advice on software product management than any "mentoring" conversation I've ever had. For one thing, the author isn't shy about talking about his own past mistakes, and how he learned from them; and insightful about the reasons for his success. He explains his tricks and techniques in very specific terms, with actual spreadsheets in some cases. A very useful book, and a let's-not-take-ourselves-too-seriously tone that makes it an enjoyable read.