This is a collection of the best essays on Software Engineering of the recent past as selected by Joel Spolsky with exclusive commentary by him. Joel Spolsky, besides being a best selling author, is a software industry veteran and one of the most respected figures in computing today. His site "Joel on Software" (http://www.joelonsoftware.com) is the #1 rated sites on Technorati for programmers. Spolsky has designed and developed software used by millions of people and has worked on a variety of products, from Microsoft Excel to the Juno user interface to FogBugz. He is the founder of Fog Creek Software in New York City.