The Software Project Manager's Handbook: Principles that Work at Work [Paperback]

Dwayne Phillips (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0818683007 | ISBN-13: 978-0818683008 | Publication Date: June 27, 1998 | Edition: 1

Software project managers and their team members work individually towards a common goal. This book guides both, emphasizing basic principles that work at work. Software at work should be pleasant and productive, not just one or the other.

This book emphasizes software project management at work. The author's unique approach concentrates on the concept that success on software projects has more to do with how people think individually and in groups than with programming. He summarizes past successful projects and why others failed. Visibility and communication are more important than SQL and C. The book discusses the technical and people aspects of software and how they relate to one another.

The first part of the text discusses four themes: (1) people, process, product, (2) visibility, (3) configuration management, and (4) IEEE Standards. These themes stress thinking, organization, using what others have built, and people. The second part describes the software management principles of process, planning, and risk management. Part three discusses software engineering principles, the technical aspects of software projects. The fourth part examines software practices giving practical meaning to the individual topics covered in the preceding chapters. The final part of this book continues these practical aspects by illustrating a sample project through seven distinctive documents.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…clearly explains what it takes to be a good software project manager...a first-rate information source for novice project managers." (IEEE Software Magazine, November/December 2005)

"...a useful book for the classroom or the workplace...I advise purchasing this book and applying the author's ideas." (Software Quality Professional, September 2005)

"...a good reference for individuals just starting off as IT project managers...For those preparing for the CSQE exam, this book can be a good reference..." (Software Quality Professional, June-August 2005)

"…helps guide software project managers and their team members in working towards common goals." (IEEE Computer Magazine, October 2004) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

Software project managers and their team members work individually towards a common goal. This book guides both, emphasizing basic principles that work at work. Software at work should be pleasant and productive, not just one or the other.

The author's unique approach stresses that success on software projects has more to do with how people think individually and in groups than with programming. Visibility and communication are more important than SQL and C. Personal and group techniques outweigh the latest tools.

The first part of the text discusses elements of effective software management. It introduces the four themes: (1) balancing people, process, product, (2) making ideas visible, (3) applying configuration management properly, and (4) using Standards. The author summarizes past successful projects and why others failed. The second part describes the requirements, planning, and risk management stages of the development cycle. These contain the hard part of software development and how the four principles help people who love to code work through essential but unpopular tasks. The third part of the book looks at the middle and late stages of development — design, test and integration, and maintenance. It discusses dealing with customers who want to be designers, avoiding endless test-fix cycles, and working maintenance so no one feels like a second-class citizen. The last part of the book is a cookbook that discusses three projects in light of the basic principles. These projects walk step-by-step through a waterfall, an evolutionary, and a spiral project.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 403 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr; 1 edition (June 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0818683007
• ISBN-13: 978-0818683008
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,660,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An easy-to-read guide to project management., September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Software Project Manager's Handbook: Principles that Work at Work (Paperback)

Unlike most text books, it is a very easy to read book allowing one to read it from cover to cover. The book is an excellent source for novice project managers who need a guide to the many aspects that come with the job. Personally I refer to it often for suggestions on which documents I should produce or what actions to take while managing a project.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good reference, but not sufficient on its own, February 24, 2003

By 

Rick Sline (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Software Project Manager's Handbook: Principles that Work at Work (Paperback)

This book covers Software Project Management broadly with a lot of good information for both the new project manager as well as the old hand. The material is presented as a comprehensive overview rather than a detailed instruction. By itself the book does not go deeply enough into any of the areas to provide a novice with enough useful information so it's a good book to use in conjunction with books providing more detail.

Despite its lack of detail, the book presents many important points - the importance of the human equation, analysis/organization tools such as Tony Buzan's MindMap, having a Management Information Center, and using standards without having a programmer's revolt. There is only passing mention of key issues such as scope creep, the tendency of management to try to throw more personnel at a project in trouble, needing to build testing into the initial design process, and the pro's and con's of the various development methods (waterfall, spiral, etc.). A number of references are quoted, including many IEEE documents (IEEE is the publisher) plus books by Gerald Weinberg, Capers Jones, Tom Demarco, and other recognized gurus - which make good adjuncts to this handbook.

Phillips perpetuates one of my pet peeves, the issue of including the top ten risks in the risk assessment document. What if there are only 7 risks which seem to be significant? What if there are 12? Granted, it would be unwieldy to track & evaluate dozens of risks routinely, but it doesn't make sense to suggest that exactly 10 be tracked.

The discussions of Configuration Management are quite lengthy and in a bit more detail than other topics covered.

Although the book is fairly short at 500 pages and is easy reading, there is a substantial amount of information covered. The 5 star rating is for the breadth of information covered, with the caveat that other references would be needed by those unfamiliar with the concepts presented.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It does work at work., July 10, 2000

By 

Mike Clarke (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Software Project Manager's Handbook: Principles that Work at Work (Paperback)

Don't confuse the ease of reading this excellent book with the depth and power of the information within it. Being involved in software project management myself, I related to the ideas the author expressed and feel I have learned much from reading the book. Other project managers in my company are now reading this book and share similar opinions.

The book contains good explanations of various techniques for formalising projects. It also contains a number of case study experiences which are very apt.

I recommend this book to project managers of all levels and to managers of software companies.