Book Review: Real-Life MDA

I recently read Michael Guttman and John Parodi's book "Real-Life MDA". The book talks about MDA (Model Driven Architecture) not from a theoretical point of view but using 7 case studies where MDA was used successfully. I liked the idea of the format and it was certainly more compelling to read about real projects and tools than another discussion of the general benefits and approaches.

As I was writing the review I realized that most of my comments about the book were really about MDA in general and are posted here. As far as the book goes, if you are thinking about MDA and like the idea of the approach then this book will give you some concrete examples to reference and to use to persuade others. I felt, however, that many of the stories were more about moving from very old-fashioned approaches to a more current approach and that most of the benefits could have been gained without labeling it MDA (see the post for more details)

For those of you who read The Halo Effect (reviewed here) you might be thinking "where are the comparisons to MDA projects that didn't work". I though that too and think it would have made a stronger book to present both sides. In the end the book is not compelling for someone who has not decided to adopt MDA or who considers MDA just another Computer Aided Software Engineering or CASE tool. It might be a useful tool for those who are already convinced about MDA who want examples and stories to share. You can buy the book here.

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