Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules

Productivity-Tool Strategy

Somewhat counter to common practice, tool use is best treated as a long-term, strategic issue rather than a short-term, tactical fix. Tool usage is not a short-term solution because it takes time and money to acquire and deploy tools effectively. If you don't spend time and money on it, then you stand to waste time and money using tools that you ultimately find to be ineffective. Brand new tools (not just new to you, but new) introduce unpredictability into both quality and schedule. It's no accident that the state-of-the-art is called "the bleeding edge."

Tool usage is also unlikely to provide any major competitive advantage. Tools tend to be advertised heavily, which means that any tool you know about, your competitors ...