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The traditional methods for dealing with risk are typically: (1) Ignore it.
(2) Pretend it does not exist.
(3) Look upon the messanger as "Not a Team Player" and finally ...
(4) Pressure DeMarco and Lister blow the lid off this approach by making a compelling argument that 1-4 are irresponsible and unethical, then pointing to a better way. The "toolset" that DeMarco and Lister provide is very specific and will help, but I think they are getting to something deeper. Ever since "PeopleWare", the impression I have of these authors is that they are trying to get IS folks to think for themselves - to have a very large toolbox and to pick the… Read more
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
In his 25th Anniversary Edition of "Mythical Man-Month", Fred Brooks points to PeopleWare as the influential IS book of the 1980's, and says that it was influential for the same reason MMM was: The primary challenges of software development are social, not technical. Companies that forget this are setting themselves up for failure. If you've seen dilbert style software "management" and want to find a better way, I can't recommend this book more strongly. If you read it, you'll want to find a way to get your superiors to read it as well. In my experience, a great deal of so-called "management" is really shoft-term optimization: "IF we can eliminate… Read more
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The book starts by making several good observations: (1) Software Engineering, with it's focus on big-up-front design, is not working well in the business world. (2) Emergent Design and Iterative Development actually work for business systems. (3) An apprentice/journeyman/master system relying on communication and OJT will be more effective than a BS in CS and a one-week course in SQL. (4) The focus on buzzwords and bleeding edge technologies is actually harmful to our craft. (5) The idea that learning is somehow bad because it implies the learner doesn't know everything is bogus and wrong. In fact, the idea that there is a single 'right way to do it' is equally bogus. We should… Read more
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