Robert L. Glass is an old-timer in the field of software engineering;
this book is founded on decades of experience. Moreover, his discussion
of any given topic is based not only on his own experiences but also on
any relevant studies that have been done in the area (if any). As a
software engineer myself, I found his observations a refreshing change
from the usual sort of thing one hears: “If you’ll just look at things
my way, and follow my process, then all of your software
engineering problems will go away!” I found much of what he had to say
to be useful and timely.

The book isn’t perfect. In a number of places he
makes observations and then doesn’t follow up on their obvious
corollaries; he has a touching faith in ten and fifteen-year-old studies
that have never been replicated; and his attitude toward the Unix
programming community is almost patronizing at times, which is annoying.

On the whole, though, the book serves as a useful reality check,
especially for those who want to elevate the process over the people involved.