REVIEWS/ABSTRACTS The following are used with permission from 1976 issues of Computing Reviews. Brandon, Dick H.; Palley, Arnold D.; 29,350 and O'Reilly, A. Michael DATA PROCESSING MANAGEMENT: METHODS AND STANDARDS. Macmillan Information, New York, 1975, 520 pp. $25. This book's scope covers "standards" for systems development, analysis and design, programming, testing, installation, planning, operations, production support, evaluation, maintenance, and documentation, plus recommendations for the "management" of projects, production, personnel, facilities, and contractors. Few DP books give as much for the price. It is a timely and useful successor to the first author's MANAGEMENT STANDARDS FOR DATA PROCESSING [D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, N.J., 1963; CR 5, 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1964), Rev. 6162.], and the five-volume HANDBOOK OF DATA PROCESSING MANAGEMENT [Auerbach Publications, Philadelphia, Pa., 1971]. The authors admit t h a t "The great bulk of the book is devoted to i l l u s t r a t i o n s . . . , " and, indeed, the opus has 133 figures t h a t range from "Communication Paths in the System Development Process" to a sample software contract. The chapter on Personnel Requirements is followed by 25 consecutive pages of f i g u r e s , one of which (on Career Planning), spans f i v e pages. This volume is both a goldmlne of valuable nuggets f o r DP people at a l l l e v e l s and a p o t e n t i a l l i f e time resource f o r the spinner of red tape. R. W. ROSENBAUM, Bloomfield H i l l s , Mich. seems to be t h a t substantial managerial a t t e n t i o n is necessary f o r e f f e c t i v e use. Chapter 8 summarizes the preceding chapters and previews Volume I I . The author states, "Taken together, the two volumes are intended to give the professional programmer the basic tools he needs to perform e f f e c t i v e l y in pos i t i o n s of increasing r e s p o n s i b i l i t y in a systems programming course." There seems to be reasonable accomplishment o f t h i s goal; accordingly, the t e x t should be of most use to p r a c t i c i n g systems programmers. C o l l e g i a t e courses in systems programming w i l l be hampered by a lack of exercises. This lack is intended to be ameliorated by a case study guide. Managers of a p p l i c a t i o n s programming may be somewhat f r u s t r a t e d , i f they apply the t e s t to commerc i a l programming p r a c t i c e because the needs of t h e i r p o s i t i o n are given l i t t l e a t t e n t i o n . However, the t e s t is a major a d d i t i o n to the l i t e r a t u r e on management of programming; even though i t s scope is r e s t r i c t e d to the management of systems programming, the reader should be able to make substantial e x t r a polations to the management o f other types of programming. C. R. LITECKY, Madison, Wis. Lucas, Henry C., Jr. 29,612 WHY INFORMATION SYSTEMS FAIL. Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1975, 130 pp. ~$11. Information system design often is viewed strictly as a technical problem encompassing issues such as system design, program design and coding, debugging, and program or file conversion. In fact, for an effective system, consideration of technical issues should be augmented by consideration of both the impact of the information system on the organization and consideration of issues related to project management. This book is focused on the first of these issues. To this end, it summarizes existing relevant research and then proceeds to describe the results of some of the author's investigations related to information system design, operations, and utilization. To provide a framework for understanding, Chapter l contains an introduction to the information systems field and identifies a spectrum of issues relevant to information system design. It is observed (Simon [l]) that information system design becomes more complex as one passes from operational control to management control to strategic planning. Moreover, there is little evidence to suggest the general utility of information processing systems as a direct tool in strategic planning and decision making. Indeed, in the results of one of the cited studies [2] it was concluded that ". . the only effect computer-based information systems were having on top management was through reports prepared by middle level managers using output generated by a computer-based information system." Chapter 2 discusses two e x i s t i n g models of an i n f o r mation system and describes a t h i r d d e s c r i p t i v e mode] developed by the author. The f i r s t model d i s cussed is a power model (Hickson et al. [3]). It is observed that the information services department scores high in all the variables of the model and that this concentration of power usually is unrecognized. Moreover, such power on the part of the Aron, J. D. (IBM Corporation) 29,532 THE P O R M DEVELOPMENT PROCESS--THE INDIVIDUAL R G A PO RM E. R GA MR Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1974, 288 pp. $12.95. The text is Part One of a two-volume set in the IBMsponsored Systems Programming Series. This review is limited to Volume I, The Individual Programmer. The text starts with a history of the programming process. A major change in the process is seen to have been an emphasis on programming management rather than programming technology along with a shift toward recognition of programming as a group activity. Some behavioral principles and organizational issues relevant to programming are reviewed briefly in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 consists of a case analysis of the process of a programmer iteratively interpreting a user's definition of a problem. Chapters 4 and 5 on Design and Coding appear to contain the topics of central interest to the author. In design, top-down strategy and structured programming are emphasized together with a discussion of their major trade-offs. In coding, top-down and bottom-up programming strategies are contrasted. Program reliability and performance are emphasized. Chapter 6 consists of a discussion of debugging, documentation, and delivery. Chapter 7 is a fairly unique analysis of the pros and cons of on-line programming. The major point

/lp/association-for-computing-machinery/review-of-why-information-systems-fail-by-lucas-henry-c-jr-columbia-Kv0qzyQhAY