Managing Technical People: Innovation, Teamwork, and the Software Process (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written for project leaders and managers, Managing Technical People delivers advice on how best to deal with the particulars of leading talented, technically minded people through project cycles. Author Watts Humphrey explains his methods for becoming a better project leader, recognizing and recruiting talented people for the right job, and effectively managing those people through the software product cycle. Most of his points are illustrated with anecdotes, tables, and charts, and there are plenty of the requisite multistep methods for improving specific problems.

Product Description

Well-known author and long-time manager Watts Humphrey offers keen insight into the special challenge of identifying, motivating, and organizing creative technical people, and the opportunities involved in managing these people.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (November 7, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201545977
• ISBN-13: 978-0201545975
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #984,029 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected from a great man like Humphrey, March 6, 2000

By	Ron (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This book was not what I expected. Humphrey uses mostly anecdotal examples to illustrate his many points. Though this helps get his points across, it does not really prove his assertions.

Most of his advice is not practical, or even possible in the employment situations I've seen (and heard about) over the last ten years or so. I found a few interesting parts, much like I would find it interesting to listen to the tales of any old-timer about the `good old days', and some of his insights about people in general are quite keen.

Some parts really hurt my will to read on. For example, he seems to believe that if a manager can get his team members to work lots of overtime, that higher productivity will automatically follow. Someone who has written books about the use of careful measurements during software development should know better. The evidence I've seen and read (in other books) indicates that regular overtime is a `bad smell' of deeper problems, and a perfect recipe for low quality and ultimately failed projects.

He even claims that the manager's job is to put schedule pressure on the engineers, otherwise they'll take forever and never get anything done. Again, he includes a little anecdotal example. However, with very few exceptions all of the engineers I've worked with hold themselves to certain standards of quality and productivity. Usually management pressure (especially the old time-crunch game) just hurts more than it helps.

Overall, much of his advice doesn't fit with the reality I've been experiencing lately.

I recommend comparing and contrasting Humphrey's advice with that found in "Peopleware" (2nd ed.) by DeMarco & Lister.

Also, for even better book full of `management tips' see "201 Principles of Software Development" by Davis.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed but useful, July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This book is rich in detailed advice about managing teams of engineers. Futhermore Watts Humphrey uses many interesting examples --- some anecdotal, some from his experience at IBM, and some historical --- to illustrate this advice. My favorite example involved President Theodore Roosevelt and the introduction of continuous-aim firing in the US Navy.

However, there is a flaw that runs through this book from the beginning to the end. Humphrey assumes that the organizational context is a large vertically integrated company like IBM circa 1970. That kind of company has all but disappeared nowadays. It is rare for large companies to develop new products today --- instead they buy the startup that has already developed the product they want. Important champions aren't powerful executives; rathey they are wealthy angels or powerful venture capitalists that fund the startups.

Interestingly, this flaw hurts some chapters and hardly affects others. For example, the chapter on the importance of the commitment ethic remains true even though the organizational context is very different nowadays.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really perceptive book, January 17, 2000

By	Ramasubramanian Mahadevan (Chicago) - See all my reviews

Keenly written book, shows the depth of Watts Humphrey's experience. Greatly rewarding for anyone who is willing to look at situations without applying oppressor/oppressed stereotypes. The book will sail cleanly over the heads of those who do not have at least 4-5 years of hands-on management experience, and will boink the others between the eyes. The sections where he talks about why technical people appear dissatisfied and how managers fail them were just amazingly useful once I forgot to fight the contents.