Managing A Programming Project: Processes and People (3rd Edition) [Hardcover]

Philip W. Metzger (Author), John Boddie (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0135542391 | ISBN-13: 978-0135542392 | Publication Date: January 1996 | Edition: 3rd

For software programming managers, programmers, and lead technicians. With over 250,000 copies sold in its previous editions, this premier guide to managing software development has been updated in this third edition to account for increases in computer power, the use of software development tools, and object-oriented environments.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

With over 250,000 copies sold in its previous editions, this premier guide to managing software development has been updated in this third edition to account for increases in computer power, the use of software development tools, and object-oriented environments.

From the Inside Flap

Preface to the Third Edition

The underlying principles of good management have not changed since the first edition of Managing a Programming Project was printed. The practical presentation of those principles in the previous editions has helped a generation of managers. The same principles can be found here as well.

What I have done in this edition is to combine them in a different setting, much like a jeweler who designs a new ring using the stones from an older one. The new setting for the management principles reflects several underlying changes in the environment where software is built.

Computing power has become abundant. As a result, programmers spend their time differently than they used to. The amount of programming and design time that I spent in wrestling with the constraints of the first minicomputer I worked on was not spent again when my software was rewritten to run on a new and much more powerful machine. This abundant power has also given rise to tools that make programmers vastly more productive than they were in the past.

The starting point for todayÕs systems is likely to be an older system, not a manual process. This affects the way customers think about requirements and it also affects the work needed to make sure the transition from the old system to the new one goes smoothly.

Integration is a much bigger part of the job than it used to be. A modern system can bring together programs that run on a personal computer, data that lives on a local area network, and industrial-strength number crunching that happens on a mainframe located half a continent away. All these things must work together to give the customer the result he wants and it's the manager's job to see that they do.

The combined effect of these changes (and others) is that the step-by-step approach that worked well in the past is being overtaken by an approach that has many development processes active at the same time. This newer approach is the basis for the management recipe presented in the third edition. So come on in and sit down. There are some new items on the menu, but our dedication to using only the finest ingredients is as strong as ever. Bon appetit!

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 372 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 3rd edition (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0135542391
• ISBN-13: 978-0135542392
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,382,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great program management book for the novice!, August 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Managing A Programming Project: Processes and People (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)

This book gives a great understanding of what to expect and how to react to programming software projects. Although not set up for the Web world, the book still offers good insight on the dos and don'ts of software management.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Keeps Getting Better, March 26, 2001

By 

ALEXANDER LAWSON (Springfield, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Managing A Programming Project: Processes and People (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)

This book is a godsend. I still have the first edition. I've been using this book since college. I have managed hundreds of programming projects and found this book (and earlier editions) a must. All my projects originate around this process. The result is having my programming projects on time and on budget.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Book on Information Technology Management!, December 20, 2010

By 

Michael Tozer (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Managing A Programming Project: Processes and People (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)

In 1983, I was privileged to attend a one week project management course put on IBM. It was an excellent course. But perhaps the best thing about the course was that IBM gave each student a new copy of two books that were essential to appreciating the material taught in the course. The two books were "The Effective Executive" by Peter Drucker and "Managing a Programming Project" by Phillip Metzger. These two books still probably stand today as the two really essential guides to effectiveness in a modern career in information technology. I've just now finished rereading Metzger's wonderful book. And it seemed therefore a fine occasion to offer some thoughts on this truly wonderful book.

The book presents a simple, easy to understand, yet complete and rigorous guide to the management of a software development project. Metzger takes the posture that his reader is the manager of a moderately sized software development project. Interestingly, his definition of a moderately sized project, when the book was first written, now three decades ago, was a team of approximately forty individual contributors with the appropriate levels of management. Today, we have learned to run most of our software projects leaner. However, the teachings that Metzger shares still resonate.

Metzger's book actually goes quite well both with Drucker's classic on general management, "The Effective Executive", and with "The Mythical Man-month" by Frederick Brooks. All three of these excellent books provide the reader with sound guidelines and wonderfully tried and true philosophical statements relative to the accomplishment of work in modern organizations. We strongly recommend all three. Yet, Metzger's book, in a way, stands apart. I'd direct the attention of readers in particular to Metzger's final chapter on making a difference. There, Mr. Metzger shares that a manager can, and does, make a huge difference in the lives of people around him. It is vital to keep in mind that this difference can be hugely positive, or otherwise, dependent entirely on how thoughtfully and carefully the manager goes about his important business. It is a tremendously important lesson for all those blessed with significant responsibility in modern organizations. If you are so charged, I commend this wonderful book to you strongly. God bless.