Symbian for Software Leaders Principles of Successful Smartphone Development Projects by David Wood

Symbian for Software Leaders Principles of Successful Smartphone Development Projects by David Wood | To software leaders in the smartphone revolution the creators of outstanding products which will yield high value to hundreds of millions of mobile users.

Part 1 Symbian in context

• 1 At the heart of the smartphone revolution
• 1.1 The phenomenon of smartphones
• 1.2 Taking advantage of the smartphone opportunity
• 1.3 The role of the smartphone operating system
• 1.4 Regarding APIs and operating systems
• 1.5 Why Symbian OS?
• 1.6 Aside: from organizers to smartphones
• 1.7 Coming to terms with Symbian OS
• 2 The big picture of a Symbian OS project
• 2.1 High-level components of a smartphone
• 2.2 Providers of integrated solutions
• 2.3 The commercial model of a smartphone project
• 2.4 Some conclusions from the smartphone commercial model
• 2.5 Typical smartphone project timescales
• 2.6 Warning regarding timescales
• 2.7 Factors influencing project timescales
• 2.8 The big picture: beyond timescales
• 3 Involving ISVs 33
• 3.1 ISV smartphone opportunity and risk
• 3.2 Beyond technical skill-sets
• 3.3 Different routes to market
• 3.4 Symbian endorsements
• 3.5 Companion Technology Program
• 3.6 Symbian Signed 42
• 4 Twenty reasons why smartphones will win
• 4.1 Two kinds of battle
• 4.2 Multitasking
• 4.3 Messaging and entertainment
• 4.4 Mobile knowledge access
• 4.5 Organizers and finance
• 4.6 Pocket consolidators
• 4.7 Social tools
• 4.8 Personal development
• 4.9 Phones win
• 4.10 Openness wins 

 Part 2 Thriving on scale

• 5 Managing large projects
• 5.1 Smartphone projects vs. feature phone projects
• 5.2 Three approaches to large projects
• 5.3 How large projects differ from smallprojects
• 5.4 Project groupware
• 5.5 Confidentiality issues
• 5.6 Five central project documents
• 5.7 Auditing document readership
• 5.8 Processes and agility: education vs.processe
• 5.9 Problems when groupware is short-cut
• 5.10 Symbian’s use of groupware
• 6 Managing defects
• 6.1 Introduction to smartphone defect management
• 6.2 Living with defects
• 6.3 Aside: an embarrassing moment with defects
• 6.4 Defect priorities
• 6.5 The process of verifying a defect fix
• 6.6 Advanced defect investigation
• 6.7 Defect status values
• 6.8 Defect database requirements
• 6.9 The role of the project leader in managing defects
• 7 Managing configurations
• 7.1 Introduction to configuration management
• 7.2 Aside: learning about configuration management 86CONTENTS ix
• 7.3 Consequences of weak configuration management
• 7.4 Basic principles of configuration management
• 7.5 Codeline strategy – single projects
• 7.6 Codeline strategy – multiple projects
• 7.7 Beyond codeline strategy
• 8 Managing integration
• 8.1 Integration vs. creation
• 8.2 Mainlines and development codelines
• 8.3 Iterative development
• 8.4 Gate-keeping and integration tests
• 8.5 Dealing with build or test failures
• 8.6 The weekly integration cycle
• 8.7 Integration discipline
• 9 Managing interfaces
• 9.1 Knowing when components belong together
• 9.2 Limits of rebuilding source code
• 9.3 Forms of compatibility
• 9.4 The compatibility virtuous cycle
• 9.5 System compatibility board
• 9.6 Responsibilities with regard to compatibility
• 9.7 Interface access and interface status
• 9.8 Versioning
• 9.9 Future-proofing interfaces
• 10 Managing testing
• 10.1 Beyond complete testing
• 10.2 Testing in context
• 10.3 Functional tests
• 10.4 Basic Acceptance Tests
• 10.5 Specialist tests
• 10.6 Friendly User Tests
• 10.7 Mandatory tests
• 10.8 Automated tests
• 11 Managing tools
• 11.1 The need for a tools champion
• 11.2 Debuggers
• 11.3 Emulators
• 11.4 Profilers and loggers
• 11.5 Static code analysis
• 11.6 Build system
• 11.7 Distribution system
• 11.8 Miscellaneous tools
• 11.9 Dangers with tools
• 12 Managing plans and change
• 12.1 Beyond complete planning
• 12.2 Causes of change
• 12.3 Handling change requests
• 12.4 Variable task estimates
• 12.5 Practical example of agile scheduling
• 12.6 Accepting slack
• 12.7 Aggressive vs. defensive scheduling
• 12.8 Authentic vs. inauthentic scheduling
• 12.9 Beyond meeting customer requests
• 13 Managing uncertainty
• 13.1 The 80–20 rule for planning
• 13.2 Identifying the project planning hot list
• 13.3 Iterating the project plan
• 13.4 Developing features outside the agreed core
• 13.5 The 80–20 rule for task estimation
• 13.6 Typical project trouble spots
• 13.7 Pros and cons of milestone reviews
• 13.8 Dealing with milestone delays
• 13.9 Cut features not corners
• 14 Simplifying smartphone projects
• 14.1 Beyond difficulty
• 14.2 Reuse rather than reinvent
• 14.3 The benefits of frequent releases
• 14.4 Symbian’s adoption of the frequent release model
• 14.5 Use of reference designs
• 14.6 Silver bullets vs. disruption

 Part 3 Symbian’s design philosophy

• 15 Design goals for Symbian OS
• 15.1 The birth of EPOC32
• 15.2 Defining the EPOC RISC architecture
• 15.3 Software goals from 1995
• 15.4 Separating the engine
• 15.5 Nine passions 193CONTENTS
• 16 Designing for efficiency
• 16.1 The original electronic organizers
• 16.2 Limits of Moore’s Law thinking
• 16.3 Causes of code bloat
• 16.4 Designing algorithms
• 16.5 Understanding the compiler
• 16.6 Adopting OO
• 16.7 Selecting C++
• 16.8 Text descriptors
• 17 Designing for robustness
• 17.1 Alloc heaven
• 17.2 Expecting the unexpected
• 17.3 The perils of multitasking
• 17.4 Exception handling
• 17.5 Common mistakes in destructors
• 17.6 Seeking out failure cases
• 17.7 Attitudes towards defects
• 17.8 Protecting the smartphone vital assets
• 18 Designing for usability
• 18.1 ‘‘The operation was a success, but the patient died
• 18.2 Enchantment
• 18.3 Designing the user interface
• 18.4 Multimedia performance
• 18.5 Understanding the real competition
• 18.6 Customer orientation for developers
• 18.7 Designing panics
• 19 Designing for longevity
• 19.1 Preparing for variants
• 19.2 Be ready to fail fast
• 19.3 Prepare your own SDK
• 19.4 The value of codevelopment
• 19.5 Basic principles for reusable solutions
• 19.6 The value of architecture
• 19.7 The value of ignorance
• 20 Designing for smartphones
• 20.1 The licensing question
• 20.2 Focus on strategy
• 20.3 Smartphone heritage
• 20.4 Active objects
• 20.5 Power management
• 20.6 Beware stray signals
• 20.7 Final comments on asynchronous events
• Part 4 Human aspects of smartphone projects
• 21 The essential role of the project manager
• 21.1 Focus
• 21.2 Project manager vs. technical lead vs. product manager
• 21.3 Project review meetings
• 21.4 Commercial negotiations with third parties
• 21.5 Project manager authority
• 22 The essential role of the support network
• 22.1 Pros and cons of support consultants
• 22.2 Cultivating connections
• 22.3 Building a team out of nothing
• 22.4 Helping consultants to be effective
• 23 The essential role of renewal
• 23.1 The role of the post partum
• 23.2 Line management skills
• 23.3 Circulation of team members
• 23.4 Principles of collaboration
• 23.5 The increasing importance of software
• 23.6 A guide for software leaders
• 23.7 Symbian OS renewal