Book excerpt: Implementing the IEEE Software Engineering Standards is a practical and professional guide to implementing the IEEE Software Engineering standards in your software development process. There are 39 complex standards involved, some more critical than others. This book explains where to start, which standards to implement first, and how to integrate them into your current software development process. The book presents a realistic Software Life-Cycle Model to complement the standards and aid development. One of the book's biggest benefits is that it helps software engineers reconcile some latest "best practices" such as rapid prototyping and use of CASE tools with use of the standards.