Japan's Software Factories A Challenge to U.S. Management [Hardcover]

Though Japan has successfully competed with U.S. companies in the manufacturing and marketing of computer hardware, it has been less successful in developing computer programs. This book contains the first detailed analysis of how Japanese firms have tried to redress this imbalance by applying their skills in engineering and production management to software development. Cusumano focuses on the creation of software factories in which large numbers of people are engaged in developing software in cooperative ways--i.e. individual programs are not developed in isolation but rather utilize portions of other programs already developed whenever possible, and then yield usable portions for other programs being written. Devoting chapters to working methods at System Developing Corp., Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, and Fujitsu, and including a comparison of Japanese and U.S. software factories, Cusumano's book will be important reading for all people involved in software and computer technology, as well as those interested in Japanese business and corporate culture.

Introduction
Part I: The Software Challenge
1. Product-Process Strategy and Japan's Software Industry
2. The Technology: Recurring Problems and Integrated Solutions
Part II: The Factory Approach
3. System Development Corporation: A U.S. Factory Experiment
4. Hitachi: Organizing for Process and Quality Control
5. Toshiba: Linking Productivity and Reusability
6. NEC: A Multiproduct, Multiprocess Factory Network
7. Fujitsu: Process Control to Automated Customization
8. Standardization and Cooperative R&D
Conclusion
9. Software Development: From Craft to Factory Practice
Appendixes
A. Survey of Manager Emphases: The Process Spectrum
B. Japanese and U.S. Project Performance
C. Market Shares and Customer Satisfaction in Japan
Notes
Index

A much-needed dose of reality for every programmer orlÓR