- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (Jun 24 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0201675269
- ISBN-13: 978-0201675269
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 18.7 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 662 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #389,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Fear not. This book will help you become an effective and respected team leader... the view from the trenches will help guide you in making your own decisions in the context of your own organization and its values... With Whitehead as your mentor, you can anticipate and diffuse problems. Soon you will be as effective as a team leader as you were as a developer" - Shari Lawrence Pfleeger "This is a book for the real world. Suppose you are the team leader of a software project. You thought you did all the right things at every stage. Yet the project came in three months late and the application crashed continuously when it went live. What could you have done to prevent this? This book gives the answers. Structured round common questions which should occur to every new team leader "How do I earn the respect of my team?", "How do I draw up a project plan?", it discusses the activities which you need to master" Donald Matthews, Project Team Leader, AIT
This is a book on how to cope with the dizzy heights of leadership without getting vertigo or offending everyone in sight.
Computing, August 2001
Book Description
This book aims to provide help and advice for IT professionals in this situation by offering solutions to the most commonly encountered problems, such as getting a project out on time, coping with the demands of leading a team, implementing new methodologies or technologies. It is written by a team leader for other team leaders with a focus on practical advice rather than management theory or process issues. It would be targeted at experienced software engineers, developers and architects who have been promoted to the role of team leader.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Easy read for any techo....,
By
This review is from: Leading a Software Development Team: A developer's guide to successfully leading people & projects (Paperback)
Whitehead covers alot of the basics of team management. It shouldn't be difficult, and that what Whitehead explains through "questioned" title chapters. It works quite well because you can zero in on the question about leadership in your situation that may be plaguing your mind. The book is short and easy to read, so it can be read in about 3 days on a bus. The author subscribes to making you aware of the qualities of good managers and how to handle common types of problems, like what to do when you don't have the technical knowledge about a problem, or how to handle difficult/disruptive team members. In summary, Whitehead helps you get into thinking like a ternary leader, that is you are part of a group, all working towards a common goal and you, (the teamleader/manager), should not dictate your "will and whim" to others. The only criticism is that it is probably too light on the aspect of project management. There are issues about project management of people in terms of requirements, risk, scheduling that are not discussed. This book is about working with your colleagues not clients.... but overall a good read at a good price.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really understands the project lead role,
By
This review is from: Leading a Software Development Team: A developer's guide to successfully leading people & projects (Paperback)
After reading this book, I would say for sure that Richard Whitehead understands the role of the project lead. I would buy this book for a new, or existing lead, if I wanted him to understand the challenges he might face. I really applaud this and would add that many books feel like they were written from the outside looking in (sure, everyone on the outside wants twice the functionality in half the time!). I would love to see an update that included more strategies for success however. A lot of the solutions seemed to be based on a specific set of circumstances and personalities. Perhaps adding some examples from others who faced similar challenges, and overcame them with different methods, would increase the impact of this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Advice that will reduce the very difficult to difficult,
By
This review is from: Leading a Software Development Team: A developer's guide to successfully leading people & projects (Paperback)
While the programmer in me has often railed at the managers of software development, generally with very good reason, but admittedly sometimes for reasons that were less than pure, I do readily admit that it is a very difficult job. Humans tend to have distinct sets of skills, some of which seem to have a fundamental incompatibility. Writers of good software seem to be predisposed to having limited social and managerial skills and in general one needs to be able to understand a great deal about software in order to be able to manage its' creation. Programmers are also known as being "somewhat difficult" to organize, so even the best managers can be challenged by what is oftentimes an unruly bunch of developers.However, difficult does not mean impossible, I have yet to meet a quality programmer who did not have a "weakness", that properly exploited, will cause them to work intensely and log an enormous amount of keyboard time. Teams are built in many ways, and Whitehead quite properly notes that many (most) successful teams are made of people who respect and rely on each other's skills, but may not personally like each other. Some of the most successful sports teams of all times were made up of players who did not speak to each other outside the bounds of play. Arguing and bickering, as long as it is within clearly defined boundaries, should be considered normal and tolerated. Attempts to dictate that people like each other and engage in silly "teambuilding" exercises more often lead to failure rather than success. Other examples in the book show the same good sense, as Whitehead clearly has experience in making projects work. The book is split into sections, which are * The new leader. Under these sections, there are a total of 40 different points, with a header and explanation of some of the rights, wrongs and different shades of gray inherent in the points. While forty is not large enough to cover all possible contingencies, I cannot find a reason to criticize those that were chosen.
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