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Ken Whitaker is Vice President of Development and Operations of United States Data Corporation and formerly Vice President of Applications Development of Nielsen Marketing Research. He also managed developers at Software Publishing Corporation and Data General Corporation, and he led the delivery of Harvard Graphics, PFS, and other top software.

Software developers -- you can't live with them, and you can't live without them. Most have no idea of how to schedule their work, they're often terrible communicators, and if you mention the words "team player" to one, you'd better be talking sports. Let's face it, you're never going to change them, but that doesn't mean you can't manage them. And now Ken Whitaker shows you how.

Whitaker's been in the business for more than twenty years. and he's managed some of the hottest developments shops in the industry. In this book he tells you all he knows about every manager's three biggest headaches...

• How To Attract Top-Notch Developers
• How To Keep Them Happy
• How To Get Them To Develop Superior Products,
  On Time And To Clients Complete Satisfaction

Managing Software Maniacs follows a rigorous step-by-step format and is loaded with case histories, pithy examples, management skill-building activities and more. And while reading most books on the subject can be like eating bread crumbs right of the box, Whitaker's style is full of good humor and smart, straight-ahead prose that makes this book a pleasure to read from first page to last.

Some excerpts...

"Rule 56--Enforce A Career Path For All Of Development. A key demotivator is for your employees to think that they have no future except to advance into management. As individual contributors, they need to feel like they can be promoted into an architect role that has the same visibility and importance as managers (see Figure 4.2). Don't forget to work on a set of job descriptions that are similar in responsibility among all development disciplines."

"Offices work; cubicles don't. Forget the trends and provide a working environment that maximizes privacy and allows for uninterrupted time to accomplish goals. Cubicles do not inspire an atmosphere of open communication; leadership does."

"Make sure that, when product and strategic decisions are needed, the leadership is coming from marketing. Just as marketing may challenge your headcounts, implementation, and schedules, you also have the right to challenge marketing to justify revenue, competitive impacts, and other sales-related issues. But don't make the mistake, like many of my managers did, to publicly fight with marketing's strategic vision or direction."

"I can predict with absolute certainty that entire teams of engineers will eventually be working at home and basically telecommuting with their co-workers over the phone (including video conferencing), via bulletin boards, or through electronic mail systems. But this will only work if the following criteria are met: ... "

A compliment to the author from a former co-worker... "I have a lot or respect for you. I've never met a person who could motivate such a diverse group of people and make them all feel proud of the job they're doing. And that's BEFORE all the food and booze."

The main chapter headings are...

Getting Your Priorities Straight / Attracting And Keeping Developers / Becoming A Development Leader / The Development Team / Schedules / Office Dynamics / Listening To Marketing / Guiding Your Technology Future / A Maniac's Glossary / Index. ~

Managing Software Maniacs: Finding, Managing, And Rewarding A Winning Development Team
Our price: $31.45

Catalog# 9970-2