Getting Results from Software Development Teams [Paperback]

Lawrence J. Peters (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0735623465 | ISBN-13: 978-0735623460 | Publication Date: June 8, 2008 | Edition: 1

Learn best practices for software development project management and lead your teams and projects to success. Dr. Lawrence Peters is an industry-recognized expert with decades of experience conducting research and leading real-world software projects. Beyond getting the best developers, equipment, budget, and timeline possible Peters concludes that no factor is more critical to project success than the manager s role. Drawing on proven practices from allied industries such as business, psychology, accounting, and law, he describes a broader project-management methodology with principles that software managers can readily adapt to help increase their own effectiveness and the productivity of their teams. Unlike other books on the topic, this book focuses squarely on the manager and shows how to get results without adopting philosophies from Genghis Khan or Machiavelli. (There is mention of Godzilla, however.) Packed with real-world examples and pragmatic advice, this book shows any software development manager new or experienced how to lead teams in delivering the right results for their business.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Key Book Benefits:

- Delivers methodologies and metrics for developing and analyzing project plans that work - Provides principles based on extensive managerial experience, with many real-world examples - Focuses on the management role, in contrast to many books in the field that cover multiple roles on a team

About the Author

Dr. Lawrence J. Peters, CSDP, is a software project management consultant with Software Consultants International. He has more than 38 years of experience in the field as developer, analyst, manager, and instructor. As a software project manager, he has delivered more than a dozen major software projects with budgets as large as $20,000,000 on time, on budget, and exceeding expectations. His clients include IBM, Xerox, Fujitsu, the U.S. Department of Defense, and Microsoft. He developed the curriculum for the first Master of Science in Software Engineering at Seattle University and has taught as an adjunct professor at Seattle University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and St. MartinÂ’s College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (June 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735623465
• ISBN-13: 978-0735623460
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,044,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Manager-focused guide to great software results, August 17, 2008

By 

Lars Bergstrom "LarsBerg" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Getting Results from Software Development Teams (Paperback)

This book is a guide for current and aspiring software project managers who would like to bring more determinism into their projects. Peters shows many statistics early on about the vital role of the project manager on the success of projects, and my own experiences agree with those. A good manager can help a mediocre team succeed; a mediocre manager will lead even a great team to failure.

There is fairly deep treatment of a variety of planning styles, project lifecycle models, and even information about how to best motivate your team. I particularly enjoyed the ties between what motivates people (like early involvement with planning and release date specification) and how that is an aspect of a variety of different planning frameworks. He also does a great job of providing specific examples of how to let the team, company, and situation help define the right process, rather than always doing exactly the same thing.

The only thing I didn't enjoy as much was the treatment of some of the more in-depth planning models. It felt like there was a lot of detail, but I still didn't come away with a good idea of where to get started with them if I wanted to use them immediately. A summary section at the end of each presentation with pointers to good "how to do it" books and tools (as opposed to the existing references to the definitions of them) would help. Also, some of the relative terms like small, medium, and large projects that he used to help with decision-making could use some clarification. After years of working at Microsoft, I still consider anything under a quarter million lines of code small, and it takes about 20 million to make a large project. I don't know how those numbers relate to his breakdowns.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Managing a Software Development Team From Begining to End, December 21, 2009

By 

Anona Mouse - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Getting Results from Software Development Teams (Paperback)

The second paragraph in the first chapter sets the key to this book. This key is that getting results from a software development team involves both leadership and management. Not dictating your solution. From there the author takes the reader from why software development is so difficult, to development team building, to software development life-cycles, to project management and estimation, to improving and evaluating software development teams.

The Author does this in a mere 276 pages. Considering that there are volumes written on any one of the above topics, that is very amazing. The writing is very clear and well laid out. Even if you have read some of the volumes within these areas, this book is very nice, focused read of overall management of a software project.

There are areas in which I would have liked to have read more details and areas that I would liked to have read less ( this is why I gave a rating of 4 stars instead of 5 ). But, I am sure that those areas would not be the same as what you would like. It is very difficult to cover this thoroughly for everyone. Lawrence Peters did an excellent job, overall.

I would highly recommend this book, even if you have read books on the stand-alone topics. Having everything in one, focused read is very thought provoking.

Also, I would recommend this to all IT technical managers. I have seen so many fail at their endeavors and not even realize it. This book will help you to become more successful in your jobs.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Software project manager? You will love this book!, July 31, 2008

By 

Larry Walsh "SNMP Consultant and Trainer" (Camano Island, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Results from Software Development Teams (Paperback)

Dr. Peters' book is the best project management book I have ever read (I've read quite a few). He has an easy style of explaining things, probably from his seminar delivery experiences. The book offers practical advice as well as explaining more complex tools, methods, and metrics. His real-life stories are quite good - many made me smile (been there, did that, seen that), but they also help make his points memorable.

This is a very serious book - essential reading for software project managers. Dispels the myth (or sometimes a personal self-delusion) that project managers just happen to be born with natural skills.

Although software project centric, it is broad enough to be of interest to anyone involved with technology projects at any level. It is recommended for upper management who might be interested in installing a "culture" of consistent project management disciplines (and successes). It might also be useful for HR personnel in screening candidates. Development team members will also benefit.