In the first of three volumes about quality, management, and productivity, Weinberg discusses software development organizations in terms of their culture, and he observes the patterns of their behavior. Organizations can be classified as one of six cultural patterns, ranging from Pattern One (obvious to the existence of software management) to Pattern Six (fully synchronized software development). He discusses the performance of each pattern and shows how companies can climb the ladder to higher quality. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.