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Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams 3rd Edition

by Tom DeMarco (Author), Tim Lister (Author)

4.5 1,090 ratings

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Few books in computing have had as profound an influence on software management as Peopleware. The unique insight of this longtime best seller is that the major issues of software development are human, not technical. They’re not easy issues; but solve them, and you’ll maximize your chances of success.

“Peopleware has long been one of my two favorite books on software engineering. Its underlying strength is its base of immense real experience, much of it quantified. Many, many varied projects have been reflected on and distilled; but what we are given is not just lifeless distillate, but vivid examples from which we share the authors’ inductions. Their premise is right: most software project problems are sociological, not technological. The insights on team jelling and work environment have changed my thinking and teaching. The third edition adds strength to strength.”

― Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Kenan Professor of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Author of The Mythical Man-Month and The Design of Design

“Peopleware is the one book that everyone who runs a software team needs to read and reread once a year. In the quarter century since the first edition appeared, it has become more important, not less, to think about the social and human issues in software develop¿ment. This is the only way we’re going to make more humane, productive workplaces. Buy it, read it, and keep a stock on hand in the office supply closet.”

―Joel Spolsky, Co-founder, Stack Overflow

“When a book about a field as volatile as software design and use extends to a third edition, you can be sure that the authors write of deep principle, of the fundamental causes for what we readers experience, and not of the surface that everyone recognizes. And to bring people, actual human beings, into the mix! How excellent. How rare. The authors have made this third edition, with its additions, entirely terrific.”

―Lee Devin and Rob Austin, Co-authors of The Soul of Design and Artful Making

For this third edition, the authors have added six new chapters and updated the text throughout, bringing it in line with today’s development environments and challenges. For example, the book now discusses pathologies of leadership that hadn’t previously been judged to be pathological; an evolving culture of meetings; hybrid teams made up of people from seemingly incompatible generations; and a growing awareness that some of our most common tools are more like anchors than propellers. Anyone who needs to manage a software project or software organization will find invaluable advice throughout the book.

ISBN-10

0321934113
ISBN-13

978-0321934116
Edition

3rd
Publisher

Addison-Wesley Professional
Publication date

June 18, 2013
Language

English
Dimensions

6.05 x 0.85 x 9.1 inches
Print length

272 pages
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From the Publisher


Part I - Managing the Human Resource Investigate a very different way of thinking about and managing people. That way involves specific accommodation to the very nonmodular character of the human resource.	Part II - The Office Environment Discover some of the causes of lost time and propose measures that you can take to create a healthy, work-conducive environment.	Part III - The Right People Undo the damage of the manager-as-strategist view, and replace it with an approach that encourages success.


Part IV - Growing Productive Teams Explore the concept of the successfully bonded team and things you can do to help such teams happen.	Part V - Fertile Soil While factors at the organizational level might be beyond your ability to control, they’re still worth considering.	Part VI - It’s Supposed to Be Fun to Work Here Allowing for adventure, silliness, and small amounts of constructive disorder, getting out of the way, banding together for change.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister are principals of the Atlantic Systems Guild (www.systemsguild.com), a consulting firm specializing in the complex processes of system building, with particular emphasis on the human dimension. Together, they have lectured, written, and consulted internationally since 1979 on management, estimating, productivity, and corporate culture.

Tom DeMarco is the author or coauthor of nine books on subjects ranging from development methods to organizational function and dysfunction, as well as two novels and a book of short stories. His consulting practice focuses primarily on expert witness work, balanced against the occasional project and team consulting assignment. Currently enjoying his third year teaching ethics at the University of Maine, he lives in nearby Camden.

Timothy Lister divides his time among consulting, teaching, and writing. Based in Manhattan, Tim is coauthor, with Tom, of Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects (Dorset House Publishing Co., Inc., 2003), and of Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior (Dorset House Publishing Co., Inc., 2008), written with four other principals of the Atlantic Systems Guild. He is a member of the IEEE, the ACM, and the Cutter IT Trends Council, and is a Cutter Fellow.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Addison-Wesley Professional; 3rd edition (June 18, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0321934113
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0321934116
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.05 x 0.85 x 9.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #130,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #151 in Software Development (Books)
- #1,989 in Leadership & Motivation
- #2,286 in Unknown

Customer Reviews:
4.5 1,090 ratings

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Tom DeMarco
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Tom DeMarco is the author of sixteen published books, including five novels, a collection of short stories, and the rest books about systems technology and the sociology of the workplace.
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Tim Lister
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4.5 out of 5

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Jan Dziekan

Management of Creatives, Distilled

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

In short - it is a book on how to treat people. Written for managers in software companies (can be generalized to all companies which expect their employees to do creative work), in my opinion it can be read just by anybody, even if only to raise awareness of toxic workplaces.

The authors have written “Peopleware” basing on their vast consulting experience for software firms, as well as their experiments and survey-based research. The book’s title signifies the importance of employees; the prevalent message is that most of problems in software projects are not related to technology, but relations between people. Bad atmosphere, working overtime, context switching - these are much more likely to make a project miss its deadline than tools and technologies used by the team. A considerable portion of text is focusing on bad practices, found in many corporations and oftentimes excused as “necessary evil” or “politics”. Chapters are short, with examples from many companies (negative stories are anonymous). In its form, the book is a series of meaningful essays, written in informal, humorous way.

It is absolutely worth mentioning, that this title is *not* about methodologies of project management, nor project performance or software tools. They are downplayed on purpose; in industries which demand creativity, people are most important. As the authors are focused on human aspects (thinking, emotions, psychology, interactions), “Peopleware” will always be relevant. The first edition was published in 1987, I am confident that it did not require much revision since then.

My favourite chapter is on team creation - there is no golden rule which guarantees that a team will perform better than sum of its parts, however there are numerous surefire ways to make it perform worse. The positive examples are revolving around motivated people, aligned with general goals of their companies, then let loose on finding solutions on their own. Managers are supposed to be obstacle removers, not dictators.

If companies were adhering to postulated recommendations, many, many people would be able to say that their work is pleasure. Please read it, then put it on your manager’s desk :)

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ron Quartel

Some ideas are dated, but many are still valid. Worth the read.

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2024

Verified Purchase

Best practices are always a moving target. A better strategy is to continuous experimentation and improvement I think. This book has some ideas well worth trying.

Helpful

Chicken Little

if you get only one book on social dynamics on a team this should be it.

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

Probably the best book social dynamics in the workplace I have ever read. Alas, it's the only one that I've read.

There are many books on management, leadership and social dynamics. I've a few. I know people who have read a lot more. This book cuts across topics discussed in multiple books in much shorter language. This book also ties together topics that other books do not. I, personally, found it easier to read everything from one book quickly rather than figure it out from matching up several ones.

Fast read. Well written. Gets to the point. Has a very modern philosophy on teams.

----
Addendum

HOWEVER the authors of this book focus primarily on one style of project work, that being working on teams. In fact they focus almost exclusively on a concept I know as "self-directed teams."

Other ways groups of people can work together is rarely discussed.

Also some of the recommendations will likely not be possible to implement depending on your position in the company. For example, a team manager may not have a say on who is welcome on his/her team. If someone is not working out, he/she may not have the option of getting rid of that person. Also, people who very obviously should not belong on the same team may be forced into that work arrangement despite everyone's protests. HR may do that. It's nice to read that that team won't work, but ... everyone knew that already.

One person found this helpful

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Twitchard

Good vs. Evil

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

The book analyzes the practice of managing (software) teams through an overarching (and captivating) narrative of good vs. evil -- the (good) individual vs the (evil) corporate collective (personified through such villains as the "furniture police" and upper management).

On the one hand, it is extremely thought-provoking, and if nothing else I'm convinced that it has rightly identified several important aspects of the modern technology corporation that managers might be able to influence and should certainly be mindful of. I also appreciate the moral argument that it makes, that a good (and successful) manager needs to protect the psychological and sociological well-being against his or her own ego (and the egos of those above).

At times I thought the authors were a bit simplistic in their caricatures of the corporate villains, and I don't believe for a second that they gave a fair treatment to both sides of any particular corporate policy they consider, but then again that's not really important so much as the overarching moral framework the authors depict.

This is the first book I read on this subject as a newly minutes manager and I'm glad it was.

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2023

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I agree with 70 to 80 percent of the book. Some things are a bit unrealistic but more helpful than not.

Helpful

Mike B

Must-Read for All Software Developers, Managers and Directors

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is a must-read for every professional software engineer, even if you don't have aspirations to become an engineering manager. This book will help you understand the mindset of typical business bureaucrats and teach you how to present your ideas to these types of people so that you can get the tools (and time) you need to do your job right. If you do want to become an engineering manager, the book will also show you how to protect your developers from unnecessary distractions and how to retain developers who could get a high-paying job anywhere they like.

The world of software development is becoming increasingly more important as computer technology improves and we desperately need better software engineers. Don't let yourself become a 'hack,' sitting in meetings all day and never writing a single line of code; free yourself from distractions, achieve your programming 'flow' and make the software engineering world a better place by reading this book!

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Paul

Fantastic book

Reviewed in Germany on June 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

I know about the book since more than 20 years, but I have only recently read it. What can I say - it is everything I had hoped for. After 20 years in the corporate world, I recognized a lot of the cases shown there. “Peopleware” is like a documentary of the corporate world, showing for each of the “don’t”s a potential solution. But those solutions are seldom within the power of simple engineers or even first level middle managers. One case in point is the open office. While we have studies going back decades that show that open offices are basically the places where creativity goes to die - and this book identifies them rightly so - we live in a time and age where every middle manager and their mother vouch for open offices being a catalyst for communication and productivity.
In conclusion, the book is excellent and in the very least it excels even at providing a mental escape route for those of us who feel the burden of all the crazy hurdles that modern corporate world throws at us with the aim of making us more productive. It is also a book which will make you think and analyse your own standing. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

Shikhar

Good read

Reviewed in India on August 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

Book makes the case that managing thinking workers is a different problem and hence different solutions are required. It offers logical arguments and sometimes empirical data / anecdotes. The majority of them make sense to me, those that don't, I can still see where the authors are coming from. There is no rambling, it's to the point.

César

Incredible

Reviewed in Brazil on March 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

Some situations that happen in my company were illustrated with such clarity and a new way to think about it that I most certainly will try to handle in a different direction after reading this book.

Marco L.

Very funny and interesting

Reviewed in Italy on December 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

It's a classic about the non-techincal issues the people in IT used to face and sometimes still face today. It's written in a very funny way and helps you to think about your working environment.

Cliente de Kindle

It is a must read dor everyone working in a software company

Reviewed in Spain on May 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

I specially liked the emphasis put in teams. It also helped me recognize common problems in organizations.
It is a must read.

One person found this helpful

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