Competitive Engineering: A Handbook for Systems Engineering, Requirements Engineering, and Software Engineering Using Planguage

by Tom Gilb

Competitive Engineering documents Tom Gilb's unique, ground-breaking approach to communicating management objectives and systems engineering requirements, clearly and unambiguously.

Competitive Engineering is a revelation for anyone involved in management and risk control. Already used by thousands of project managers and systems engineers around the world, this is a handbook for initiating, controlling and delivering complex projects on time...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0750665076
• ISBN13: 9780750665070
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Requirements Engineering Tamed

Tom Gilb's book, Competitive Engineering, is for those professionals serious about tackling the requirements specification effort in any real project. I am excited about it. He offers his Planguage for structuring the system engineering process and gets at issues of risk, success and failure criteria and evolutionary project development in a rational way. This book is a must read, re-read and study for students and practioners working in the murky area of mapping the problem domain to the solution domain. It provides suggested metrics, examples and ways of looking at problems. His "Twelve Tough Questions" listed on page 8 gets you focused and sets the stage for a well-written `how-to' book on separating user wants from their needs and setting the stage for potentially successful software projects. He makes failure part of the process on page 40. I loved his process diagram with the vertical right positioned arrow. It is a nice touch that reminds us that these processes are non-linear and contain feedback loops at every turn. It is, as promised, a Handbook. Buy it, and you will use it. It will not collect dust on your bookshelf. This book is a wonderful contribution to our Software Engineering literature. It will be the basis for our CS 564 Requirements Engineering Course at Stevens Institute of Technology. Gilb shows us that software technology is maturing and his deep understanding of the field clearly emerges in his writing. So I urge you to click into your cart, now.

Systems Engineering for Competitive Advantage

Competitive Engineering (CE) presents an updated contribution from Tom Gilb to the topics of systems engineering, software engineering and agile project execution. As a handbook, this work does not require the reader to have read prior works, although one is frequently invited to visit his website for additional information. From the title page, the reader receives an open invitation to enter into dialogue with [...]. Tom writes from a long practical background and with confidence that the Planguage Methods really work - if one is willing to give them a chance. However, this is not a new tyranny of methodology, but rather a rich tool set that can be adopted and adapted by a team or an organization. The essential elements of Planguage are requirements specification (Chapters 2-6); Impact Estimation (Chapter 9), a technique unsurpassed in its ability to track the progress of a project toward achieving critical objectives; and evolutionary project management (Chapter 10), first introduced by Gilb in 1988. Specification Quality Control (Chapter 8) builds upon his earlier work on Inspections, see Gilb and Graham 1993. Chapter 7 discusses the design engineering process with cautionary advice about avoiding the trap of letting design specifications masquerade as requirements. The book comes with a "friendly warning" that the ideas are presented in a very compact style. To ease the assimilation process, Tom includes a list of top 10 principles in each chapter. These pages, along with the "Twelve Tough Questions" in section 1.2, are worth the price of the book - but you may still want to read the supporting material for concrete suggestions about how to implement these principles. The book is also rich in diagrams and summary tables. The objection most often levied by doubting readers is the uncompromising emphasis on quantification. Those who persevere should experience the benefits illustrated by the case studies that are an integral part each chapter. The title page of each chapter lists the key concepts that follow. One quarter of the book is comprised of the Context Glossary, which provides contextual definitions for those who struggle with the proliferation and occasionally contradictory use of terms in other literature. CE is for anyone SERIOUS about improving communications within their development environment and thereby reaping the benefits of Competitive Engineering.

Read this book if you want to be ahead of the competition

I have been waiting for this book for almost 2 years now. Every professional who is in serious competition should very carefully listen to what Tom Gilb has to say. After reading this book you will see the world through different eyes. I'm not exaggerating! Tom Gilbs view on quality and measurable quality requirements was like an eye opener to me. Also the numerous rules, procedures, and process descriptions are nearly invaluable. I'm working at Sun Microsystems in the StarOffice development and can acknowledge that the ideas of this book have deeply influenced the work at StarOffice. But be warned that this book is not for being quickly browsed. You have to read it carefully but the return is tremendous.

A massive source of ideas

There are people who suggest approaches to project management and design that seem more sophisticated or more grounded in generally accepted theory than Tom Gilb's. Tom's edge is that his ideas just work. Competitive Engineering covers a huge range of topics clearly and with many detailed, helpful examples to show exactly what the techniques look like in practice. My particular favourite is the section on design ideas. So much writing on systems engineering discusses design as if you can somehow analyse your way to the final design. I've always found that ideas are needed so the section on generating and sifting ideas is true to life and helpful to me. The more you learn about Tom's methods the easier it is to see where so many organisations are going wrong. Most people realise that getting benefits from systems projects is important but "benefits management" tends to be too superficial and too late to do much good. In Competitive Engineering Tom starts with the benefits to stakeholders and just never lets go. This is a collection of techniques that work, put together into an overall, cohesive approach based on Tom's decades of consulting and invention.

A brilliant guide to complex systems development

A brilliant guide to complex systems development Reviewer: Romilly Cocking from London, UK This wonderful book explains how to deliver complex systems within time and budget, with a level of quality that will earn you a "wow!" The book defines the five core processes of Competitive Engineering: Requirement Specification, Design Engineering, Specification Quality Control, Impact Estimation, and Evolutionary Project Management. It includes plenty of practical advice and lots of real-world examples. At the back you'll find a detailed glossary that contains precise definitions and detailed explanations of hundreds of the key concepts used in the book. I loved the style, which is clear, practical and precise. I found it a demanding but very worthwhile read, not least because of the high density of ideas per chapter. There are things to think hard about on almost every page. Gilb's decades of practical experience in complex systems development are evident throughout the book. Strongly recommended.