Getting Results from Software Development Teams (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: improving team performance, work breakdown structure, earned value management, Software Development, Estimating Project Size, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (June 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735623465
• ISBN-13: 978-0735623460
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,753 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 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 (REAL NAME)

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.

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

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.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but, February 17, 2009

By	Goku "tech geek!" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews

I like the book.. but sometimes it jumps from amazing advices to purely technical or academic issues.