Development Books

Using a combination of important questions and valuable examples, Birol helps the entrepreneur navigate business growth -and the decisions around transitioning the business to new ownership

I have known Andy Birol for many years as a business advisor, friend, and confidant. Andy is the rare combination of a gifted marketer, driven salesman, and patient teacher. As an entrepreneur looking to grow my business, Andy's insights are invaluable. His common sense, "real world" approach to growing your business is easy to understand and produces tangible results. His books are written in an easy to understand style that can best be described as "The Harvard Business Review" as written by Mark Twain. If you are looking for a guide to help grow your business but are put off by business books that are too dry to read and too theoretical to put into practical use, Try the 5 Catalysts of 7 Figure Growth. You won't be disappointed.

The 5 Catalysts of 7 Figure Growth is great reading with lots of practical ideas and strategies for growing or improving any business. Andy Birol's strong focus on targeting, focus and every person's and every business' "Best and Highest Use" makes this a must read for any business owner. Andy also provides simple approaches to business growth and improvement that any business can easily implement. The discussion of different strategies and needs for companies in different stages of growth and development is particularly helpful in focusing a business owner's attention on his or her unique needs based upon where they are with their business. Overall, the best value that I got from the book was Andy's consistent emphasis and focus on building and growing your business around its "Best and Highest Use," including having every person in an organization working and performing at their "Best and Highest Use." I recommend 5 Catalysts of 7 Figure Growth to any business owner that wants to dramatically improve his or her business.

This is one of the best books I read on this topic. You want to make millions more? It's simple: read Andy's book, and keep his advice.

The old adage goes, "Those who can't do, teach.
Those who can't teach, consult." There are
exceptions to every rule and Birol is one of these.
He has proven that he does all three very well indeed.

His 5 Catalysts book will be a standard addition to
any small business owner's library to be read and
re-read. It's not often you find a book that is
both easy and entertaining to read while also
full of ideas and helpful suggestions
that can be put to energetic use immediately.

There are a number of books on the market on reinventing yourself or finding a second career. This one was easy to read and offered a number of practical steps to take as you move forward. I liked that he inserted real-life stories to illustrate each of his points. Definitely worth purchasing if you're thinking about another career or concerned that your existing one may disappear!

"50 Plus, Critical Career Decisions for the Rest of Your Life," while written for those in their fifth decade, presents sound practical advice for persons of any age. Particularly helpful are the chapters devoted to how to move up in your profession, how to do your own public relations, and how to determine when it is time to change your job. In this, the author's third book offering advice to persons in specific age groups (the first was the well received "The Critical 14 years of Your Professional Life"), he devotes more time to the tactics, strategies, rewards, and pitfalls of striking out on your own than he did in his previous volumes. Throughout this latest work Dilenscneider not only tells the reader "how to do it," but his consistently upbeat approach also leaves one with the feeling that "it can be done."

50 Plus! is a relevant to-the -point, no nonsense guide that applies to all those in the work force who want that extra "edge" to achieve their goals. Every page offers something of value to the reader. It covers the "in's and out's" of business from the hiring interview, to how to leave a job and all the stops in between..resumes, creating an image, business relationships,even how to conceptualize and start your own business. Although this book is titled 50 Plus!,and indeed provides 8 rules for "getting back in the game",it offers practical information that can be used at any age.
This is a well written "must read" for everyone and a great book to keep as a reference.

Mr. Dilenschneider has written a fine book based on his own experiences and those of his friends and network that is mostly as applicable to 30 year olds as to 50+ year olds.

He's at his best when he's describing his own successful experiences in the public relations field. The sections on how to leave your current job, get a new job, how to become a consultant, how to get clients and how to handle public relations are spot on. They are worth the price of the book. However, if you are not interested in those sections, you will probably be disappointed in this book.

I particularly recommend chapter 9 "Bridging the Generation Gap" for its fine material on how to stay up-to-date with and relevant to younger people, regardless of what your relationship is with them (whether boss, subordinate or child).

Some of the book didn't quite work for me, such as the "dress for success" advice from two of Mr. Dilenschneider's haberdashers. As a result, I almost stopped reading the book before I got to chapter 5, when the helpful advice began to kick in.

If you want to understand the heart of the 50+ perspective in the book, you really only need to read chapter 9. If you think you are going to have age-related job issues, then other chapters come into play. As a result, I suggest that you check this out at the library before purchasing it.

After you finish, think about how your life can be filled with expanding choices and potential . . . while you feel excited and rewarded by how you spend your time. Then, spend some time exchanging ideas with others who are younger and older than you to see what their perspectives are.

This book should be #1 for anyone in the market for a job, not just those looking for a career change. After 6 months of trying, I nailed a job on my first interview after reading this book. The advice is totally relevant to this economy's job market, and I especially appreciated the tips on getting and maintaining positive control of interviews and meetings. I can't imagine there's a better book out there.

But if he would have been able to read it he could have been out of business because all his foulups have a found a careful and effective fix. The author has written a book for every business person, Harvard or graduate of hard knocks. He must have read my book "The Manager as Coach, Remodel your Management Style",because he knows how to analyze and organize through team members so that once a system works it should work forever. His key is to understand how things interact together just like people should so one mistake doesn't cascade through the company making everyone look bad. Reading "51 Mistakes" is like repealing Murphy's law only better.

Whether you are a new to the world business or a seasoned hand, Jim's book is a desk reference for the business owner. This book is a miniscule investment compared to the money I have left on the table over the years. I can only wish that I had it twenty years ago!

great book. i highly recommend it. very easy to read and its a smaller book.

This guy gets it! In today's world, with changes coming at you at break-neck speed, most of us never take time to review our current business system from top to bottom. As Muelhausen points out in 51 Fatal Business Errors, there's a lot of land mines for an executive to avoid in order to take his company (or his department) to the levels that it should achieve. Spotting and defusing them before they do major damage is critical to achieving and maintaining success. The book makes it clear that it's not always about the new technology, a different management structure, or the latest products from R&D--sometimes its just removing a few negatives that are keeping us from reaching our goals.

I understand Muehlhausen uses this book as the basis for speeches he gives around the country. I'm looking forward to catching him when he comes to Atlanta.

Jim Deitz, The Franchise Doctor

Mr. Muehlhausen provides just the type of "down and dirty" material that a business person needs to grow their organization to the next level. The format lends itself to problem specific reading and the concise format makes it approachable. It's on my "Go-To" list of business books that I recommend to my peers and associates. Must read!

Energized training strategies respectful of the multiple intelligences and learning styles flow throughout the book. Content features key strategies for instructors from building the course, to igniting anticipation from learners, to understanding why a variety of well-placed and appropriate activities--including the use of music-- build retention of the training content. Practice segments invite the reader into interaction with the ideas suggested in each chapter. From instructor self-reflection, to comprehensive planning and delivering the course, Russell builds elements of Instructional Design into an Accelerated Learning process with the learner, retention and performance at the center.

and didn't know who to ask!

As a seasoned practitioner of brain-based learning techniques, NLP, and accelerated learning, I was intrigued by this book - it was the book I always thought I'd write!

I'd recommend it to my friends who've decided they want a cool job like mine.

It covers the A-to-Z of learning - business reasons, contract for learning, learning styles, memory, you as trainer, environment, music, development of learning events and marketing. It even provides usable examples and activities.

The best thing - Lou models what she's writing with the use of illustrations, tables, etc. If you want to be a trainer who does more than lecture, this book is a must for your briefcase...it may never make its way to your bookshelf!

This is the most useful training book I have ever read. The format is easy to read and it is easy to learn the concepts. I have been doing training and psychotherapy for twenty-two years and I am an NLP practitioner. I learned many valuable new things. Especially the importance of teaching all the types of intelligence's. I now realize that when I get all excellent evaluations except for one or two I may not be hitting that persons intelligence. The marketing ideas are a very welcomed addition. This book has helped my training and business immensely.

Outstanding presentation on the theory and practical tools to enahnce any learning experience. I found that the book answered many questions I had, and solved many dilemmas I face facilitating behvior change in organizaitons. Lour orgainied the material very well, and ends each chapter with a personal plan place. Her work exemplifies the methods she illuminates.

I have adoped the field book for use in the Corporate Trainer Certification program being offered here at San Antonio College Continuing Education. The text is up to date. It combines a very well written text with review exercises, case studies, and personal actions through out. The students love it! But, what I like best about the book is my instructors' USE IT! They use the music CD as well. Their coments to me are that "it's user friendly." Thank you very much for this great teaching tool.

You've saved me from another deadline late-nighter. A short summary is in order: 1. Combo-box auto-lookup wasn't working 2. Read on-line help 3. Read Microsoft's Building Applications 4. Read O'Brien/Pogge/White 5. Read Viescas 6. Read p.346-7 of Litwin/Getz/Gilbert: Tah-dah!

The text is accurate and the examples work. I guess what made the difference is that the demo database was devoted to the specific subject that I was interested in, instead of having to wade through Orders or Northwind yet again.

Is there a Pulitzer for computer books?

I bought it when it came out.

Great book for Access97. Great chapters on string handling in the enclosed VBA book as well.

Werd.

Daily employed subjects, very good explaineds and an useful INDEX to found what you need. That is aplicable to the whole serie "Access xxx Developer's Handbook". I own all of them!. The best book about MsAccess.

These guys know their stuff. First of all the layout is a masterpiece. I don't know if the publisher should be thanked more then the authors. The font styles, size; page design is very pleasing and professional to say the least. The material is presented with a first person view. The "Event Model" is broken down so that you really know what happens when you create event driven functions. Coverage of VBA classes is a charm. An entire chapter for printer control is an award winner. I can't sing enough praises of the Access Developer Handbook. Pick up a copy and you'll see for yourself. Note: The book assumes you know some VB or VBA, and a light knowledge of the Access environment.

P.S. I only wish that the authors would co-develop a book such as this on MS Visual Foxpro --We desperately need one!

I've bought every edition of the Developers Handbook since Access 2.0, and convinced every employer of mine during that period to buy a copy, too. I used to be amazed at how I could look for the solution to some Access problem in three other books and never find it (or even clues that helped!); then I'd look in Getz et al and find the *exact* solution, on a silver platter.

In the past few years, I'll admit, I have on a very few occasions looked for something I didn't find. Once the answer was there, in quite thorough form, but I missed it because I looked in the index instead of the table of contents! The only reason I even mention this is that the Developers Handbook is the *only* technical book I've ever come across from which I have, almost subconsciously, begun to expect not just excellence, but PERFECTION! I realize how terribly unfair this is, but I can't help myself.

I'm pleased to see the scope of the Developers Handbook being expanded into SQL Server and Visual Basic, since high-end Access development can no longer be done in isolation from those tools. Having a resource like this one provided by Ken Getz, Paul Litwin, and Mike Gilbert is far from the worst reason you could have for choosing Access, SQL Server, and VB over some other set of tools.

If you're a developer and value your own time, you'll want this book. If you employ developers and you're lucky enough to have one or two who will actually *use* a book if it's available, buy this book now. The only way it won't pay for itself is if *nobody* ever opens it. And I'm not even sure of that. I think it might even make your developers better at what they do just by sitting on the shelf of their office!

I am on a one year leave from teaching second grade to stay home with my 5 month old. The teacher in me purchased this product because I wanted to make sure my baby was not missing out on any learning. I wish I would have discovered it sooner as the guide is set up for babies not able to sit up, babies able to sit up, and babies able to crawl. It gives activities to do at each of these stages. It is easy to use and activities are divided into categories: listening and talking, physical development, creative and learning from the work around them. We were already doing some of the activities included, but the book offers many ideas I would not have thought of. Overall, I feel it is a great resource to have.

As a first time mom,of a child with special needs to boot, I had no idea. This book and the others in the series are great resources for finding things to do with your child other than watching Teletubbies for the thousandth time. If your child needs extra help in a certain area, like fine motor or listening skills, you can easily find a variety of exercises to help here. The later books in the series (Threes, Fours, and Fives) would also be a great resource for a homeschooling parent.

It's almost overwhelming. There is no way you can spend this much time teaching everything, but it's nice to be able to pick and choose fun things to do with your baby. It's easy to use in a well thought out layout from birth on, divided by sensory perception.

Not just for daycare! I am a first-time, stay-at-home mom and needed a way to tell if I was "doing all the right stuff" in regards to play, development, speech, music, etc. This book gives you exercises that are so easy for each stage of the first year of life. There is not a lot to read like a typical baby care book, but each section outlines what the child should be accomplishing and gives you exercises to ensure that your child reaches those development milestones. If you can look past the idea that it is written for daycare providers, you will find this book extremely helpful. I knew I was giving my child all he needed because I had these exercises to use as a handy guide. Good luck to you!

I absolutly recommend this book for all providers working with infants. It is loaded with ideas and learning expeirences for babies. A must for providers and mothers who want to expand their child's learning!

GIAT means "give it a try"!! Is simply magnificient. The security of ordering, the speed of delivery and the packaging of ordered books are simply world-class.

For update differentiationn and innoovation in training concepts/methodologies, best to read Active Training. Its a compelling companion for effective trainers/coaches.

This book arrived in excellent condition. The book is easy to read with great examples.

This book is an excellent supplement for teaching employee training and development as a course. I'd recommend combining it with Noe's text (Employee Training and Development) for a college or graduate level course on this subject. The book is also a good stand-alone reference for teaching aspects of active training to a firm's curriculum development staff.

Great book with plenty of practical comments and ideas which allow you to design a truly active session that both, your audience and you, will enjoy.

Mel Silberman is the master of active training. Just skimming his book gave me a handful of new ideas I applied to my training. Reading the book helped me to revamp my training courses to include many more participatory training exercises.

Everybody loves being involved, talking, interacting, and exploring during training. Lecture, however, is too often the default methodology. In some ways lecture takes less time to prepare and is less risky, but is it more effective learning? In this day and age, linear, slow, from-up-front training just isn't effective. Instead, shift over to active training that engages and empowers participants to learn rather than be taught. I'm reminded of Winston Churchill when he said, "I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught."

Silberman gives idea after idea of how to spice up lectures, or better yet, replace them with other a dozen other learning methods that actively involve the participant. The 100+ exercises and examples in Active Training makes it easy to incorporate non-cheesy learning activities that really work.

Wake up your participants! Get active.

I just discovered this great book. Alicia is an interesting character who must deal with a bad mood. The art is a bit primitive, but bright and colorful. I love this book and so does my 4 year-old!

I just discovered this great book. Alicia is an interesting character who must deal with a bad mood. The art is a bit primitive, but bright and colorful. I love this book and so does my 4 year-old!

Where else will you find the word lugubrious, especially in a book for children? This book is excellent for all the reasons stated by the other reviews, as well as a vocabulary builder!

This book is a delight for readers of all ages. The pictures are vibrant and energetic. The things Alicia does are the same things I do when I have a bad day (except for smooshing ant hills). I want everyone to read this book!!!

I thought this book dealt really well with the issue of kids having bad days. I read this to my first grade class and they had a lot to say about how they deal with their own bad days. It's great to see a book (besides Alexander and the terrible, no good, very bad day) addressing the fact that young people have bad days, too! Alicia gets herself out of her bad day on her own accord. She is a great, spunky character. Her dog is a treat, too. I hope Jahn-Clough will write more about Alicia. She could be an important character and role model.

When I first started looking at Web Parts I couldn't quite grasp how they were different from other web technology. Darren was able to clearly describe how individual parts are created, and how to integrate them into a cohesive whole and helped me enormously in building modern websites.

When I began to work on a web portal using .NET 2.0 in mid-2006, I found out about this book and anxiously awaited it's publishing. I wasn't disappointed. The material covered in this book goes into such great detail and is so full of great ideas that I recommended the re-writing of our portal using Darren's book as a basis of our new design. This was money well spent.

This a very thorough and complete guide to ASP 2.0 Web Parts. After reading this book, I gained more knowledge than reading countless internet articles, numerous blogs and a few cumbersome books on subject. This book is a MUST Buy for anyone who needs to understand and/ or implement ASP 2.0 Web Parts. One added new value is the concepts outlined
in his book also work on ASP 3.5.

A must buy book if your working with webparts. Darren (The author) is also extremely helpful if you post web part related questions on his forum. The book is clear, concise and well organised. You will not be disapointed!

Ps. I have bought many many tech reference books from Amazon over the years. This is the first time I have ever posted a review. This book has been an invaluable reference for a large project I am currently working on.

Paul Hale (Domainscanners)

An all in one great introduction to web parts and even to some advanced techniques.

Web parts are a strong web UI element and this book has done a great job of talking about ALL the things that are necessary for proper web parts development.

I've read this book from cover to cover. I've read many books on software development, software processes, best practices, qualitative approaches, and quantitative approaches, many from SEI. This book has to be one of the top two. For software professionals in leadership positions facing today's pressures of delivering quality software that meets customer expectations according to plan, this book is a must-read. You will be able to implement techniques directly into your organizational processes and deliverables with considerable ease. Kolawa and Huizinga have forged a grimoire that should be on every software leaders' desk, be they Project Managers, Software Architects, PMO Directors, of Vice Presidents of Development. Here are the key take-aways from this book:

1. Clarity: All concepts, practices, and examples were extraordinarily clear. There was never a question as to what was meant, or confusion in the information conveyed.

2. Readability: The text is very user-friendly. Coming from a very technical background, I tend to read challenging and complicated material. In this book, you were able to frame both technical and complex material in a readable way. In other words, I never had to re-read anything in the book. All of the material was very easy to understand. I feel the ability to effectively reduce complexity to simplicity is the hallmark of good authorship.

3. Implementable: I found the practice-side of the book to be what I call `out-of-the-box.' This means I was able to take material directly from the text and apply that into my process(es) or deliverables with very little work or trouble. (I actually did this multiple times.) This is a testament to the subtitle of the book, Best Practices in Software Management.

4. Usefulness: The book is actually aimed at being useful within for-profit businesses. Theoretical books are good for concepts, but it's up to the readers to find ways to translate the theory into executable practices (which often is beyond the role and responsibility of the readers). Your book actually bridges this gap, and provides mechanisms to help readers implement valuable techniques into their organizations, independent of their infrastructure.

These four points make a huge difference for readers looking to improve their software development processes to ensure profitability, cost savings, and customer satisfaction. Producing quality software while building defect prevention into your processes is key in today's competitive software marketplace. With these techniques, your organization will continue to become better, managing, reducing, and even eliminating the traditional sources of defects in software deliverables. You won't be disappointed in buying this book, as you'll refer to over and over again as you build process improvement into your organization.

What sets this book apart from other software quality management books is its focus on real-world solutions. Many quality improvement strategies sound great on paper, but are impractical to implement because they end up slowing project progress and stirring resentment throughout the ranks. Rather than ignore the demands of modern day development, this book embraces them. The result is a refreshingly realistic approach to boosting software quality... while at the same time actually improving team productivity and developer satisfaction.

This book offers a straight-forward, realistic approach to solving challenges of day-to-day projects that the software industry faces. Not only does it address the necessity of technology businesses to increase efficiency and productivity, but it also takes into account the psychological need for individual software professionals to be challenged and intellectually fulfilled on a daily basis. The powerful gains of software automation are amplified by the strategic best practices described in this software management book.

Automated Defect Prevention delivers a realistic approach to the nagging software quality problem. If you are responsible for developers who deliver business applications, you need to read this book. If you are an software architect or engineer, the book will offer a pragmatic road map to achieve incremental productivity gains within your software development lifecycle.

When I read this book I had a huge realization. Most of the quality initiatives that I had been involved with or observed had introduced (or layered on) additional tasks and responsibilities for either the architect, developer or QA engineer. Over time, these layered tasks ultimately resulted in dragging down productivity. Investing in the *correct* infrastructure to automate the monotonous/repetitive is the key to success. Quality should be the outcome of intelligent investment in productivity.

One issue I have with the software industry is that too many project managers, or stake holders managing software people, lack the understanding of just how important software quality is and how it can benefit the software teams and products. As the people most accountable for what happens with a software initiative, managers should have a solid understanding of what options are available to improve developer skills and the software they release. This book provides that needed information and helps explain who is responsible for what tasks, when they should be considering phasing in a particular practice and the benefits of a given item.

I like the way the information is presented in this book because I feel a project manager would be able to quickly evaluate a practice for phasing in without facing an all-or-nothing approach that some other books take. If, for example, a manager felt that they enjoyed the chapter on testing models, this book provides the information on what is needed, the benefits and the roles people need to take to phase that approach into their teams.

I enjoyed this book and I wish that more development teams used many of the practices in this book. While there were samples at the end of the chapters and a chapter on case studies, I would have liked to have seen a bit more information on difficulty and time constraints presented within some of the sections themselves. Overall this is a great book and definitely worth having on your desk.