Beautiful Teams: Inspiring and Cautionary Tales from Veteran Team Leaders [Paperback]

Andrew Stellman (Author), Jennifer Greene (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0596518021 | ISBN-13: 978-0596518028 | Edition: 1

What's it like to work on a great software development team facing an impossible problem? How do you build an effective team? Can a group of people who don't get along still build good software? How does a team leader keep everyone on track when the stakes are high and the schedule is tight?

Beautiful Teams takes you behind the scenes with some of the most interesting teams in software engineering history. You'll learn from veteran team leaders' successes and failures, told through a series of engaging personal stories -- and interviews -- by leading programmers, architects, project managers, and thought leaders.

This book includes contributions from:

• Tim O'Reilly
• Scott Berkun
• Mark Healey
• Bill DiPierre
• Andy Lester
• Keoki Andrus
• Tom Tarka
• Auke Jilderda
• Grady Booch
• Jennifer Greene
• Mike Cohn
• Cory Doctorow
• Neil Siegel
• Trevor Field
• James Grenning
• Steve McConnell
• Barry Boehm and Maria H. Penedo
• Peter Gluck
• Karl E. Wiegers
• Alex Martelli
• Karl Fogel
• Michael Collins
• Karl Rehmer
• Andrew Stellman
• Ned Robinson
• Scott Ambler
• Johanna Rothman
• Mark Denovich and Eric Renkey
• Patricia Ensworth
• Andy Oram
• Tony Visconti

Beautiful Teams is edited by Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene, veteran software engineers and project managers who have been writing bestselling books for O'Reilly since 2005, including Applied Software Project Management, Head First PMP, and Head First C#.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew Stellman, despite being raised a New Yorker, has lived in Pittsburgh twice. The first time was when he graduated from Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science, and then again when he and Jenny were starting their consulting business and writing their first project management book for O'Reilly. When he moved back to his hometown, his first job after college was as a programmer at EMI-Capitol Records--which actually made sense, since he went to LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts to study cello and jazz bass guitar. He and Jenny first worked together at that same financial software company, where he was managing a team of programmers. He's since managed various teams of software engineers, requirements analysts, and led process improvement efforts. Andrew keeps himself busy eating an enormous amount of string cheese and Middle Eastern desserts, playing music (but video games even more), studying taiji and aikido, having a girlfriend named Lisa, and owing a pomeranian. For more information about Andrew, Jennifer Greene, and their books, visit http://www.stellman-greene.com.

Jennifer Greene studied philosophy in college but, like everyone else in the field, couldn't find a job doing it. Luckily, she's a great software tester, so she started out doing it at an online service, and that's the first time she got a good sense of what project management was. She moved to New York in 1998 to test software at a financial software company. She managed a team of testers at a really cool startup that did artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Since then, she's managed large teams of programmers, testers, designers, architects, and other engineers on lots of projects, and she's done a whole bunch of procurement management. She loves traveling, watching Bollywood movies, drinking carloads of carbonated beverages, and owing a whippet. For more information about Jennifer, Andrew Stellman, and their books, visit http://www.stellman-greene.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (April 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596518021
• ISBN-13: 978-0596518028
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.3 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Stellman is a software engineer, project manager, and co-founder of Stellman & Greene Consulting which focuses on project management, software development, management consulting, and software process improvement. He regularly speaks at schools, companies and professional organizations on project management, quality, software development and process improvement. For more information about Andrew visit http: //www.stellman-greene.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Something for absolutely everyone June 28, 2009

By Jim Brosseau

Format:Paperback

This is a brilliant book, capped off with an excellent interview with record producer Tony Visconti, who reveals that the principles behind great teams transcend the genre of software development. From the value of knowing his people to diligent tracking of work charts built by everyone and collaboration in general, it is no surprise that that Tony's experience with musicians sounds a lot like a great software project. He admonishes that we should all devote our downtime to learning new stuff, and this book provides plenty of insights for any of us.

The many contributors step back from advancing their usual prescriptions to celebrate their own successes (and yes, challenges) within teams. In this celebration, they provide some of the best insights that we can carry forward into our own careers.

Whether Jennifer Greene draws wondrous team memories from the ashes of a dot-com failure, Keoki Andrus' shares a healthy respect for innovation and creative play to inspire a team, or engaging stories by Karl Wiegers and many others capture great team experiences, the variety in Beautiful Teams will keep you rapt like few other technical books.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Collection! July 13, 2009

By Tanya Bhasin

Format:Paperback

This book is great! It's a very quick read, and it was actually fun! I've been looking for insight into teamwork and software teams, and I was definitely not disappointed. To be honest, going into it I wasn't really sure what to expect. It dives straight into an interview with Tim O'Reilly about leadership, and he immediately starts talking about teams, creativity, design, open source, but in a way that all tied together and made sense. Then came an essay called "Why Ugly Teams Win," by Scott Berkun, who wrote about his experience on a team at Microsoft. I thought the combination of "higher" ideas and practical, real-world experience, right next to each other, worked extremely well.

The book is divided into sections called People, Goals, Practices, Obstacles and Music. When I first saw that, I was surprised by the last section. But it turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the book. It's got an interview with Tony Visconti, and what he says about working with musicians actually made a lot of sense, and I could see exactly why it made sense as the last chapter in the book. All of the chapters stand on their own, and they all make different points about teams. It's easy to just go right through them, from front to end. It's a unique collection, and in my opinion it's definitely worth your time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful collection of stories about beautiful teams July 8, 2009

By Abby Fichtner

Format:Paperback

Beautiful Teams is a wonderful collection of stories by great names in software about their experiences with teams. From Mike Cohn, Scott Ambler, Grady Booch, Steve McConnell, Scott Berkun, Johanna Rothman, James Grenning... And even a few non-software folks who make the stories that much more compelling because they transcend discipline.

The book is broken into 4 main sections - one each for the primary themes that come up when talking about beautiful teams: People, Goals, Practices, and Obstacles. One of my favorites is Scott Berkun's Why Ugly Teams Win, which proclaims "real heroes are ugly. They are misfits." Citing as examples The Ramones, The Dirty Dozen, and The Bad News Bears. "Once the members of an ugly team have earned each others' trust, they will outperform the rest of any organization."

It's a book that can't help but make you smile as you think of your own experiences with great teams and what makes them so awesome to be part of. I don't know that there's the answer to how to build a beautiful team in here, it is more a book of tales. But it is definitely a topic we will do well to be thinking more about in software development and a fun book to read.

And, again, I love Scott Berkun's advice, "Stop complaining about your coworkers. Instead, get your team and your boss to read Beautiful Teams." Indeed!