One of my Christmas presents this year was Joel Spolsky's new book, “Joel on Soaftware:...“. The first thing to take note of with this book is the lengthy subtitle:
And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Deelopers, Designers, and Managers, and Those Who, Whether by Good Fortune or ill Luck, Work With Then in Some Capacity
I'm serious. Read the entire subtitle.
That pretty much sums up the book. As you read through the book, you'll find yourself trying to devise ways for your boss, coworkers and even spouse to take notice of relevant passages and entire chapters. It's that good.
Every chapter in the book is a posting from Joel on Software, but rather than arrange them chronologically, Joel chose to arange them by subject. Where reading his blog from start to finish might seem a discombobulation of ideas, the chapters segue naturally and flow easily from one into another as arranged in this book.
"Joel on Software" is an easy read--I finished it in 2 days, and didn't ignore my family too much.
One of the more interesting chapters has to do with dogfooding, or using your own software in the conduct of your own business. It's a relevant concept. My first experience with a company that didn't eat its own dogfood was with an e-commerce software company whose product you could not order online. I inherited two websites that used the software, and I thought it was terrible. As of 2002 (four years after the initial version was launched), their site still did not use their own software, and I ended up buying four licenses of a competing product I could order online, not to mention all the recommendations I have made for one and against the other. I checked yesterday, and the site does finaly have e-commerce capabilities finally, so I'm sure their product is getting better. But it has cost them all of my business, and it's doubtful I'll even look at a trial version, since I have a substantial investment in a competing product, and there is no easy way to change.
In another chapter, Joel talks about removing barriers that prevent potential customers from adopting your product over a competitor's product, and uses Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 as examples. Half of my lifetime ago, I ate, breathed and shat Lotus 1-2-3. I was a "slash menu" god. Kiddos earning ther driver's license this year have never lived in a time where they would encounter a *.WKS or a slash menu. The complete transition took about 2 years. Yet even the latest versions of Excel still have Help >> Help for Lotus 1-2-3 Users, and still support slash menus. "Slash" to me these days is a former Steelers QB now riding the pine for the Ravens.
In between the incredibly useful insight into the process of software development, Joel sprinkles in interesting anecdotes of his careers at Microsoft and Juno, and right decisions vs. wrong decisions. Whether you're looking for development process insight, or just some insider information into the workings of Microsoft, you'll enjoy this book.