In Secrets of Software Success, Detlev Hoch, with Cyriac Roeding, Gert Purkert, and Sandro Lindner, look at what's driving the prosperity of the world's best software companies and what's responsible for the failure of others. The authors, who are consultants with McKinsey & Co. in Germany, visited nearly 100 software firms around the globe and conducted 450 in-depth interviews with executives. The result is a book loaded with sharp insights and colorful anecdotes from leaders of companies such as Microsoft Germany, Keane Inc., BroadVision, Andersen Consulting, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and Navision in Denmark. "The opportunities for success in this industry remain strong," they conclude. "But the price of change brings new challenges and uncertainties. Neglecting these challenges could be a deadly mistake: Falling behind in the software industry, after all, almost certainly means failure."

In separate chapters, the authors examine the importance of leadership, the keys to developing and marketing software, winning the war for software talent, cementing partnerships for growth, and the shape of the future of this rapidly changing industry. Some of their findings are contrary to common belief. For example, software developers' and managers' disdain for rigid procedures is well known, but what the authors find is that morale and creativity actually rise with tighter rules that create better products and cut development time. Other conclusions are reinforcing; for example, the most successful companies team up with four times as many other firms as the less successful ones. Written in a lively, conversational style, Secrets of Software Success should be on the bookshelf of anyone connected to the software business. --Dan Ring


From Booklist
Researchers and theoreticians no longer look to the factory floor or the assembly line for management models. Instead, they have turned to such companies as Microsoft, Netscape, and Yahoo to gain new understanding of how organizations work most effectively and how employees can be most productive. Such recent books as Karen Southwick's Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business (1999) and Rama Dev Jager and Rafael Ortiz's In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations with the Visionaries of Cyberspace (1997) profile software companies to show how business and management have been transformed. Now four consultants working for McKinsey and Co. in Germany present the results of a comprehensive survey of 100 software companies and 450 executives from around the world that identify the industry's "best practices." The authors distinguish three industry segments (mass-market packaged software, enterprise solutions software, and professional software services) and outline challenges and appropriate responses within each. David Rouse


CIO, November 15, 1999
"The authors... deliver quick and useful shots of insight and advice on the leadership skills, people and tools a company will need to be successful in this volatile, entrepreneurial industry."


Book Description
The software industry is the most powerful wealth creator in history. It's an industry of extreme success--unrivaled job creation, extraordinary growth, accelerated product cycles--but the failures can be just as spectacular. What can we learn from the winners? In Secrets of Software Success, the authors investigate the software industry's best practices in order to develop a complete picture of what it takes to build a thriving software business. Drawing on an exclusive worldwide survey of more than 100 global software companies and 450 top executives, Secrets of Software Success presents the first panoramic view of the conditions that influence results for both the product and the service sides of the software industry. In the highly readable and often provocative examples from well-known firms, the authors debunk many widely held-beliefs, and offer instead some surprisingly counterintuitive findings. Ultimately, say the authors, the secret to success lies in the details--the ability to choose from a range of key management decisions in order to balance the right set of actions at the right time to rapidly changing market conditions. With its universal lessons of competition, commitment, talent, and timing, Secrets of Software Success holds valuable answers to the questions asked by executives in every industry. Covering firms from Australia to Zimbabwe, it is the most in-depth picture to date of the conditions that surround success in the global software business.


Download Description
The most in-depth picture to date of the conditions that surround success in the global software business, Secrets of Software Success investigates the software industry's best practices in order to develop a complete picture of what it takes to build a thriving software business. Covering firms from Australia to Zimbabwe, the authors draw on an exclusive worldwide survey of more than 100 global software companies and 450 top executives. Secrets of Software Success presents the first panoramic view of the conditions that influence results for both the product and the service sides of the software industry. In the highly readable and often provocative examples from well-known firms, the authors debunk many widely held beliefs, and offer instead some surprisingly counterintuitive findings. Ultimately, say the authors, the secret to success lies in the details--the ability to choose from a range of key management decisions in order to balance the right set of actions at the right time with rapidly changing market conditions. With its universal lessons of competition, commitment, talent, and timing, Secrets of Software Success holds valuable answers to the questions asked by executives in every industry.


Book Info
Provides a comprehensive and realistic assessment of the important issues in the software industry today. Describes what is required in the daily management of an organization, from recruiting efforts to strategic partnering, in order to thrive in the Internet economy. DLC: Computer software industry--Management--Case studies.


From the Back Cover
"Secrets of Software Success describes for the first time what is required in the day-to-day management of an organization-from recruiting efforts to strategic partnering-in order to thrive in the Internet economy. It is a unique and comprehensive collection of valuable management lessons from across the software industry." --Jon Callaghan, General Partner, CMGI @Ventures "Successful software companies create organizational structures, shape markets, and change the rules of the game in unbelievable ways. Secrets of Software Success offers a bird's eye view of the dynamics and subtleties at play in this vital industry." --John F. Keane, Chairman and CEO, Keane, Inc. "Secrets of Software Success offers cutting edge insights that go beyond the software industry to extend to Internet companies and established high-tech players." --Stephan Schambach, CEO, Intershop Communications Inc. "Secrets of Software Success is a comprehensive and realistic assessment of the important issues in the software industry today. The authors expose the key dimensions leaders in this dynamic business deal with on a continual basis." --John Wookey, Senior Vice President, Oracle Corporation "A must-read packed with counterintuitive ideas for software pioneers." --Pierre Haren, Chairman and CEO, ILOG, France "By recounting stories of individual companies' successes, Secrets of Software Success highlights valuable management insights for winning in the software industry." --Dr. Erwin Knigs, CEO and President, Software AG, Darmstadt "Secrets of Software Success is important reading for software professionals, entrepreneurs, CIOs, and CEOs. The authors lucidly present insights into what makes companies successful." --S. Ramadorai, CEO, Tata Consultancy Services, India "A timely book for any leader interested in creating and sustaining success in these extraordinary times, Secrets of Software Success reveals how pioneering companies are transforming our world by delighting customers, managing growth, and building talented teams in a rapidly changing global environment." --Doug Burgum, Chairman and CEO, Great Plains


About the Author
Detlev J. Hoch, Cyriac R. Roeding, Gert Purkert, and Sandro K. Lindner are consultants with McKinsey & Co. in Germany.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The software industry is the most powerful wealth creator in history. It's an industry of extreme success--unrivaled job creation, extraordinary growth, accelerated product cycles--but the failures can be just as spectacular. What can we learn from the winners? In Secrets of Software Success, the authors investigate the software industry's best practices in order to develop a complete picture of what it takes to build a thriving software business.

Drawing on an exclusive worldwide survey of more than 100 global software companies and 450 top executives, Secrets of Software Success presents the first panoramic view of the conditions that influence results for both the product and the service sides of the software industry. In the highly readable and often provocative examples from well-known firms, the authors debunk many widely held-beliefs, and offer instead some surprisingly counterintuitive findings. Ultimately, say the authors, the secret to success lies in the details--the ability to choose from a range of key management decisions in order to balance the right set of actions at the right time to rapidly changing market conditions.