Leading a Software Development Team: A developer's guide to successfully leading people & projects by Whitehead Richard (2001-06-24) Paperback

by Richard Whitehead

"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 seeks to provide the answers. It covers common questions which should occur to ever 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 as a team leader. The text aims to help readers gain the confidence to take a leadership role, learn from their experiences and become better leaders of successful software projects. The book is written by a practitioner who has faced the most common and difficult issues on a day-to-day basis. It takes the form of questions that you will inevitably find yourself asking, followed by practical answers that you can immediately apply in your own situation. This book gives advice on how to overcome problems and offers practical tips and techniques on how to lead other people, make good decisions and get your project out on time. It teaches skills such motivation and teambuilding; leading technical people and dealing with problematic team members; planning and project management; winning management support; leading an object-oriented project; requirements capture and handling changes in requirements; and interviewing and presenting effective decision making."--BOOK JACKET.

Genres: Management, Leadership, Programming, Technical, Software, Engineering, Computers

Paperback

First published June 24, 2001

Reviews

[Nathaniel Irvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book because I had recently been promoted and wanted to get a better handle on how to be a technical leader. This book isn't really about that; it's more about how to be a project manager or a team lead. And the problem is that it describes how to work inside the (in my opinion, rather outdated) waterfall software development model. I am a believer in Agile (not a zealot; there are Agile tenants I don't consider important or useful), so some of the basic assumptions about how work is conducted struck me as outdated and inapplicable.

Whitehead's attitude is at times very flip, which undermines the professionalism he advocates throughout the rest of the text.

If you are just getting started in the working world, this book might give you some insight as to how to conduct yourself, especially as you move up the corporate ladder. But if you've been in the business for even more than just a few years, most of what it says is just common sense.

[Gerard]

Read less than 60 pages. Seems more like a read a little, think wether you agree and move on kind of book.

[Haim Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned nothing new from this book.

[Savas Keser · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good