There is a great deal of emphasis on process in the current 'corporate climate'. Software is no different in that respect - it too has been examined from the process perspective and improvements have been identified. That is where this book and the author aim to help. The CMM has heavily influenced the draft ISO standard and so the ideas that pervade that work are readily identifiable in the standard.
Standards are useful, but experience shows that help is needed in applying standards.
The goal of this is to take the reader through a journey from fire-fighting behaviours to a culture of disciplined processes, defect prevention and continuous improvement. The author clearly has an almost encyclopaedic grasp of the subject but he presents it in a very dry, academic style which makes reading this book very heavy going. Although the author states that is for a wide audience I would tend to disagree. For those who want to look at the current state of the art and are prepared to wade through, this is a good book. Last Update - 11 September 2001.