From design to delivery, software development isn't what it used to be. What's changed, more than anything, are the development process and the developers themselves--they're woven into the business fabric more than ever before. The cliché of the solitary coder is dead.

Driving this transformation is the need for relentless focus on the business results that software should produce, forcing developers to understand nuances of the health care or manufacturing or finance worlds in which they work. It's blurring the roles of analyst and developer.

Developers, and the executives leading development teams, still must be masters of their craft. In this economy, they're under more pressure than ever to turn out reliable software on time and under budget, and that shapes the processes and tools app dev leaders choose. Rapid delivery, for instance, is one key trend. That puts a premium on automating tasks such as builds and testing, freeing developers to focus on great code that quickly meets business goals. Coding as a team sport is another trend, spanning product managers to CIOs to developers and testers around the world. That's driving tools for collaborative development and increased visibility into the app dev process.

For this report, InformationWeek and Dr. Dobb's teamed to chronicle how leaders in application development are meeting those demands. With articles by app dev leaders themselves and from InformationWeek writers, we spotlight companies tackling a wide range of challenges across industries, from a world-leading cancer center building its own e-records system to a news organization taking delivery mobile.

Jonathan Erickson,
Dr. Dobb's editor in chief

Application Development That Delivers Software development isn't what it used to be. We take a look at organizations -- including UPS and Nikon -- that are shaking up the process.   Mobile Development Plug-In Cuts AP's Time To Market Productivity Société Générale Cuts Costs Amid Complexity Application Life Cycle UPS Works To Get Better, One Step At A Time Open Source Why Reinvent? InfoPrint Integrates Free Code Configuration Development Nikon Teaches SCM New Tricks     Agile Development Idaho Makes Progress Despite Legacy Apps Custom Development Cancer Center Builds E-Records From Scratch Requirements Delphi Engineers Use Single Repository Code Reuse Defense Department Tries Opening Up--A Bit Agile Development XDx Crafts A Platform To Track Clinical Tests

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