Reflections on Management

April 21st, 2010

Very once in awhile, a book comes along written by an industry luminary that culminates the author’s “best of” professional life experiences and distills them into organized compartments of advice. Former IBM executive Watts Humphrey’s Reflections on Management: How to Manage Your Software Projects, Your Teams, Your Boss, and Yourself is just such a book.

Mike Riley

http://www.drdobbs.com/blog/archives/2010/04/reflections_on.html

Building and managing virtual teams

June 20th, 2008

I constantly get the same question, “How do you manage a virtual team and actually get stuff done.” At Wildbit, each of the 10 team members work from home or a coworking environment. We’re spread out across four countries and many timezones. With such separation, we still manage to get a lot done and enjoy our work.

Before writing this article, I had not given much thought to exactly how we work in a virtual environment. My first answer was simply practice and many mistakes. Although, the knowledge gained from those mistakes can be narrowed down to three main ingredients: The people on the team, the process that drives the team, and clear communication.

Chris Nagele

http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/biz/building-and-managing-virtual-teams

Software Teamwork: Taking Ownership of Success

February 29th, 2008

Software Teamwork is a compelling, innovative, intensely practical guide to improving the human dynamics that are crucial to building great software.

Drawing on years of work with a wide range of teams, Jim Brosseau shows how to drive powerful improvements through small, focused changes that deliver results. These changes are designed to work for the whole team and respect existing organizational culture. Better yet, Brosseau identifies solutions you can start implementing right now, as an individual, without waiting for executive buy-in.

Whatever your methodology, technology, or organization, Software Teamwork demonstrates how to apply solutions to realistic development challenges involving complex sets of stakeholders. Along the way, Brosseau shares important new insights into the attitudes, motives, and personal relationships that project management software just can’t track.

Jim Brosseau

http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/detail.asp?item=100000000246021