Software management is at the core of any software development task. Rose presents three dominant models in software management focusing on the most popular, devised and administered at Carnegie Mellon University: the capability maturity model (CMM). The author focuses on the limitations of the model and examines the approaches that might be alternatives to it. The knowledge model and the network model might support more effective approaches to deliver quality software compared to the CMM.

The author provides an analytical study that follows a dialectic approach, which is very useful for professionals, academics, and developers who get to implement a variety of software management approaches. The study is well documented and easy to read. It is a useful guide for any reader interested in software management. The knowledge model is presented as an important approach to ensure the need for an evolutionary path that improves an organization’s software process to maturity in stages. The goal is to ensure that as costs decrease in the software development cycle, shorter development time does not jeopardize the productivity and quality.

Rose criticizes certification as the main measurement of mastery and the main incentive for the organization to carry out changes to earn “a badge of competence for software.” Unlike the theory X, theory Y is more relevant to the knowledge model, which states that the software engineers are motivated and they need managers to provide the right conditions and incentives. Further, the characteristics of the network model are presented and different success stories are analyzed to draw conclusions. The characteristics include a focus on analysis and method rather than responding to change.

The study could have benefited from a comparison of agile software management techniques, since they are among the emerging popular approaches for software management.

The study highlights that externally imposed initiatives lead to low employee commitment and decrease the ability to face challenges and evolving needs. The work presented by Rose forms an interesting case for software management where an analytical dialectic approach is applied to shed light on challenges in the software development cycle.