Antipatterns: Managing Software Organizations and People

by Phillip A. LaPlante, Colin J. Neill, Joanna F. DeFranco

Emphasizing leadership principles and practices, Antipatterns: Managing Software Organizations and People, Second Edition catalogs 49 business practices that are often precursors to failure. This updated edition of a bestseller not only illustrates bad management approaches, but also covers the bad work environments and cultural traits commonly found in IT, software development, and other business domains. For each antipattern, it describes the situation and symptoms, gives examples, and offers a refactoring solution.



The authors, graduate faculty at Penn State University, avoid an overly scholarly style and infuse the text with entertaining sidebars, cartoons, stories, and jokes. They provide names for the antipatterns that are visual, humorous, and memorable. Using real-world anecdotes, they illustrate key concepts in an engaging manner. This updated edition sheds light on new management and environmental antipattems and includes a new chapter, six updated chapters, and new discussion questions. Topics covered include leadership principles, environmental antipatterns, group patterns, management antipatterns, and team leadership.







Following introductory material on management theory and human behavior, the text catalogs the full range of management, cultural, and environmental antipatterns. It includes thought-provoking exercises that each describe a situation, ask which antipatterns are present, and explain how to refactor the situation. It provides time-tested advice to help you overcome bad practices through successful interaction with your clients, customers, peers, supervisors, and subordinates.

Genres: Nonfiction, Programming, Management, Leadership, Business

328 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2005

Reviews

[Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mediocre, dumbed-down book on management styles which don't work, framed in terms of antipatterns (flawed attempts at solving common problems) and how to refactor them (overcome the flaws). The solutions were unhelpful, and usually amounted to one of, "learn to live with it," "leave the company," or the supremely unhelpful, "don't do that." The authors try to be funny and usually fail, and have a bad habit of quoting Steven Covey and reality TV shows. Criticisms aside, it was at times interesting to read about flawed management techniques that are commonly found. Sometimes it evoked, "are there really managers that are like that??" The less surprising ones were reassuring to know that it's not just me--the poor management styles I've experienced in the past really are common, and known among management experts to be flawed.

[Henrique Lobo Weissmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este livro é um achado e não entendo como é tão pouco conhecido.

Sabe aquelas coisas que você vê ocorrerem ao seu redor, sabe que não estão certas mas não consegue descrever? Muito provavelmente está descrito neste livro, que caracteriza problemas de gestão em padrões, exatamente como fazemos com os padrões de projeto em desenvolvimento de sistemas.

É uma leitura riquíssima, e recomendo pra qualquer um que se sente incomodado no trabalho e não entende o por quê.

[Steve Whiting · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you might guess from the title, this is a book which catalogues a series of anti-patterns, ie patterns of behaviour and organisation which produce negative results, and then tries to identify ways of breaking down, diverting, mitigating or counteracting the unwelcome behaviour.

It's largely successful - some of the sections feel like they've been created by hair-splitting differences from others, but overall it's a collection of mostly good insight and mostly good advice.

[Topilno]

Creating Web Pages for Dummies

[Swarup Kanti Gupta]

A very lucid book on common mistakes in corporate world. I found all of them is quite valid and interesting. A very practical book, written in rather funny way.