Is your organization maximizing the return on its investments of money, time, and manpower? Probably not, as most do not understand the implications their technical decisions have for these precious, limited resources. However, in order for software engineering to become a true engineering discipline, software professionals need to consider and understand the economics of their choices.

Return on Your Software: Maximizing the Return on Your Software Investment helps software practitioners appreciate the organizational ramifications of the decisions they make. Each chapter contains a series of self-study questions designed to help readers apply the featured techniques. Meanwhile, an enhanced online index allows readers to quickly and easily search the entire text for specific topics.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

Determine how much each possible software solution will cost.

Analyze how much -- or even if -- a software solution will generate income or reduce operating expenses.

Weigh the time frames for a software solution's costs and benefits against each other to reveal when schedule isn't king.

Attach a dollar amount to quality and thereby testing.

Make technical decisions while surrounded by risk and uncertainty, such as when considering a new technology.

Communicate your decisions in a way that speaks to the all-important bottom line.

Economics should play a critical role in all software choices -- from testing and development process to algorithms and data structures. As such, this primer on the engineering economy will prove a valuable reference for daunting development decisions both today and down the road.