I know it is a sign of economic and intellectual vigor that we have so many books to choose among for whatever subject we would investigate. Want to learn C++? Take your pick from nearly a hundred new titles. Getting into metrics? There must be 70 new books on the subject. Isn’t it nice to have a choice? Perhaps. It’s just that the n th book on even the most valuable subject begins to seem pointless as n goes into double and triple digits. Wouldn’t it be nice, just once, to pick up a book so intrinsically unique that it was and would remain the only one of its kind?

Such a book is this volume by Abdel-Hamid and Madnick. It is not another book on anything; it is the only book on its topic. It is chock-full of intriguing and useful insights that are simply not to be found anywhere else. Abdel-Hamid and Madnick lead you where you have never been before.

The subject is simulation of software projects. The authors would have you build a fairly elaborate simulation of your next project, after first having calibrated your organization against a norm that they provide. Their advice is specific and to the point. They supply a design for the simulation and all its components and even supply the actual code. They discuss the theory and use of the model in clear, prescriptive text. Once you have a simulation in place, they suggest that you run your project a few times, varying key parameters to see what mix gives you the best outcome. They urge you to tinker with your assumption set to see in advance how unwelcome news may manifest itself: Suppose the system turns out to be 40 percent larger than you had anticipated and you do not discover that until the project is more than half over. Suppose you lose a key person in month eight. Suppose sign-off on the spec is delayed by a month. The simulation tells you what net effect to expect. It may be right and it may be off to some degree, but you quickly come to the conclusion that its best guess as to what the outcome will be is better than your best guess.

I have been using Abdel-Hamid/Madnick models for the past three years. I have come to believe that the models I construct (guided by the authors’ scheme) know better than I do myself how the project will respond to changing circumstances. I would not think of running any but the most trivial project again without using such a model. The work of Abdel-Hamid and Madnick is changing the way projects are run and the way we think about them. It has changed me, and I predict that it will change you.