Note: Readings are "front-loaded" in this course so that we can establish a common base for understanding the software business. In some later sessions when there are mainly student presentations, there will be minimal or no assigned readings for the class.
Required Reading
Cusumano, Michael A. The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know in Good Times and Bad. New York, NY: Free Press, 2004. ISBN: 074321580X.
Cusumano, Michael A., and Richard W. Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. New York, NY: Free Press, 1998. ISBN: 0684855313.
Moore, Geoffrey. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. Revised ed. New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 1999. ISBN: 0887307175.
Selected articles and excerpts.
Recommended Supplementary Readings
Campbell-Kelly, Martin. A History of the Software Industry: From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. ISBN: 0262033038.
McConnell, Steve. Rapid Development. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1996. ISBN: 1556159005.
Moody, Glyn. Rebel Code: Inside Linux® and the Open Source Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publication, 2001. ISBN: 0738203335.
Nesheim, John. High-Tech Start Up. New York, NY: Free Press, 2000. ISBN: 068487170X.
| Lec # | Topics | Readings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Course Overview and Organization | |
| 2 | Strategy for Software Companies: What to Think About |
Required Reading Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-85. Shapiro, Carl, and Hal Varian. "The Art of the Standards Wars." California Management Review, Winter 1999, pp. 8-32. |
| 3 | How Software Became a Business |
Required Reading Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 3, pp. 86-127. NetNumina case study, pp. 236-242. Recommended Reading Campbell-Kelly. A History of the Software Industry. |
| 4 | Microsoft® Case Study: Strategy, Management, Organization |
Required Reading Cusumano and Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. Preface, pp. v-xvi; chapters 1-3, 6. Gawer, Annabelle, and Michael Cusumano. Platform Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002, pp. 134-162. ISBN: 1578515149.Recommended Reading Greene, Jay. "Microsoft's Midlife Crisis." Business Week, April 19, 2004. |
| 5 | Managing Software Development: Basic Issues and Best Practices |
Required Reading Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 4, pp. 128-185. Brooks, Frederick. "No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering." IEEE Computer, April 1987. Recommended Reading Cusumano and Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. Chapters 4-5, pp. 187-326. Reference Articles Cusumano, M. et al. "Software Development Worldwide: The State of the Practice." IEEE Software 20, no. 6 (November-December 2003): 28-34. MacCormack, Alan, et al. "Trade-offs between Productivity and Quality in Selecting Software Development Practices." IEEE Software 20, no. 5 (September/October 2003): 78-85. |
| 6 | Software Sales Guest Presentation: Brian Halligan, former MIT student and former VP of Sales, Groove Networks |
Required Reading Deighton, John, and Das Narayandas. "Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Parts 1-3." Harvard Business School Cases. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Cases: 9-503-021, 9-503-022, 9-503-023. August 26, 2002. Moore. Crossing the Chasm. Pp. 163-188. McMurry, R. "The Mystique of Super Salesmanship." Harvard Business Review, March 1961, Reprint #61208. |
| 7 | Part 1: Software Marketing Guest Presentations: Steve Kahl (MIT PhD student, former VP of Goldman Sachs; and Charles DeWitt, former MIT LFM student, former VP of Strategy and Planning, i2, current Director of Enterprise Marketing, Kronos Software) Part 2: Software Entrepreneurship |
Part 1: Required Reading Moore. Crossing the Chasm. pp. 1-59. Hoch, Detlev J. et al. Secrets of Software Success. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1999, chapter 6, pp. 121-158. ISBN: 1578511054.Part 2: Required Reading Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 5, pp. 195-214. Part2: Recommended Reading Nesheim, John. High-Tech Start Up. "The Truth About Software Startups." Sloan Management Review (Winter 2004): 7. |
| 8 | Open Source Guest Lecturer: Professor Alan MacCormack, Harvard Business School |
Required Reading Cusumano. The Business of Software. Pp. 120-125. Raymond, Eric. "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." (Original article.) Fuggetta, Alfonso. "Open Source and Free Software: A New Model for Software Development?" Unpublished paper, Politecnico di Milano, July 2004. Recommended Reading Moody. Rebel Code. |
| 9 | Software Business Overseas: Outsourcing and Innovation Guest Presentation -- Izhar Armoney, Charles River Ventures. Specialist on Israeli software industry. MBA Wharton, currently a director of iPhrase, July Systems, Optaros, Proficiency, ThinkFire and Virtusa |
Required Reading Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 4, pp. 185-194. Kapur, Devesh, and Ravi Ramamurti. "India's Emerging Competitive Advantage in Services." Academy of Management Executive 15, no. 2 (2001). |
| 10 | "Emerging" Software Technologies/Companies - Paper Presentations 1 | |
| 11 | Wrap-Up |
Required Reading Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 7, pp. 272-281. |