In the information highway age Just-In-Time Systems--JITS--are becoming increasingly visible: customers want to purchase rather than develop customized computing systems and they want these systems now. JITS will allow for developing systems at the right time, in the right place, and at the right price to address the right needs. This is promoted by covenant relationships between customer and supplier; JITS developers recognize that all system development projects and their maintenance have commonalities. They can apply technical, operational, and managerial approaches to similar problems--the managemant structure or system components of a project, for example, may be applicable to similar projects and follow similar lifecycles. JITS developers, therefore, avoid reinventing the wheel.

JITS will not appear overnight; its adoption will only come through evolution, not revolution. This incremental growth does not, however, imply that it's not revolutionary in substance. Managers, designers, programmers, engineers, analysts, planners, librarians, quality assurance specialists, customers, users, and suppliers of computing systems can benefit from this book.