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Peopleware:
Productive Projects and Teams,
3rd ed.

by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

ISBN: 9780321934116  
©2013   Available from Addison-Wesley

272 pp., softcover

 
$39.99 (plus shipping, as applicable)

Subject(s): Software Project Management, Team Management


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A Software Management Best-Seller—
Updated and Expanded as a Third Edition

Now Available from Addison-Wesley

Two of the computer industry's best-selling authors and lecturers return with a third edition of the software management book that started a revolution.

With humor and wisdom drawn from years of management and consulting experience, DeMarco and Lister demonstrate that the major issues of software development are human, not technical—and that managers ignore them at their peril.

Now, with six new chapters—expanding the second edition and updating throughout—the authors enlarge upon their previous ideas and add rich observations, eye-opening examples, and lively anecdotes from personal experience.

Discover dozens of fresh insights on

  • pathologies of leadership
  • an evolving culture of meetings
  • hybrid teams made up of people from seemingly incompatible generations

Peopleware shows you how to cultivate teams that are healthy and productive. The answers aren't easy—just incredibly successful.

 

Raves from Second-Edition Reviewers

"DeMarco and Lister are very well known for their classic, Peopleware, which should be mandatory reading for software managers, project managers, product marketing managers—in fact, anyone involved in the decision-making process for funding software projects."

—Beth Benoit
The Rational Edge


"The best software/management book I have ever read. Being a new project manager, some aspects of the book were a real eye-opener and others were just common sense, but I was so glad to read them to give me confidence that what I was doing was right. There are also some great examples of how not to manage a project, things I have seen far too often from managers."

—Simon Fry
Project Manager, Tenix Defence


"This book was one of the most influential books I've ever read. The best way to describe it would be as an Anti-Dilbert Manifesto. Ever wonder why everybody at Microsoft gets their own office, with walls and a door that shuts? It's in there. Why do managers give so much leeway to their teams to get things done? That's in there too. Why are there so many jelled SWAT teams at Microsoft that are remarkably productive? Mainly because Bill Gates has built a company full of managers who read Peopleware. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is the one thing every software manager needs to read... not just once, but once a year."

—Joel Spolsky
Founder, Fog Creek Software
Joel on Software


"The book's style is conversational and anecdotal, and uses simple declarative sentences -- no pretentious turgid writing. . . .

"I still heartily recommend the book. Buy a copy and lend it to your boss. It might be a good test. If he or she throws a tantrum, maybe it's time to find a new job. "

Kirby W. Cartwright
Fresh Meat


"This classic must-have book exposes fallacies of software management folklore. Tom and Tim explain how productivity and teamwork really happen. Peopleware is an enjoyable read, written with a balance of wisdom and humor."

Eileen and Wayne Strider
Software Testing and Quality Engineering


"This is my all-time favorite software engineering book. Peopleware accurately recognizes that software engineering is about people, not technology....

"... it's not just for managers, I strongly recommend this book to everyone, from the most junior engineer to the CEO....

"This book fundamentally changed my views on software engineering!"

Marc A. Herschberg
Javaranch.com


"This book is a treasure trove of valuable insights into the psyches of software engineers and their managers. . . .

"I was amazed at the revelations on how (or how not) to build a great team and execute projects flawlessly. . . .

". . . the closing chapters on the responsibility of managers for their organization's health are gems of wisdom."

" . . . the book is a wonderfully entertaining presentation of vital, sociological issues. Managers who fail to read this are doing a disservice to their teams and organizations."

Joe Zec
Software Quality Professional


"Peopleware has become a classic on building effective development teams. If you are a manager, you need this book. It will help you design your team, group culture, and physical environment to maximize productivity. If you are an individual contributor, you'll find that this book confirms your suspiciouns that offices are generally designed to prevent you from doing your job.

"A thin but pithy volume, Peopleware is both entertaining reading and rich advice. My copy is showing signs of wear; I refer back to it on a regular basis.

"My favorite chapter is the "The Black Team" (Chapter 19), in which DeMarco and Lister describe a particularly effecive testing team.

"There are simiar stories throughout the book, all drawn from DeMarco and Lister's extensive consulting experience. These stories make the book a delight to read, and provide real life examples of successful and unsuccessful management practices."

Elisabeth Hendrickson
Quality Tree Consulting


"The basic premise of this book is that the people issues involved with the development of software must be taken into account in order to be successfull and productive. This book is geared towards project managers, although in my opinion all developers should read it. The book provides excellent advice for building and managing teams that is based on real-world experience. It also provides intelligent insight into the design of people's work areas, including ergonomic issues and equipment-related advice. A must read for all project managers and most developers."

Scott Ambler
www.ambysoft.com


"When the first edition appeared, I wrote a review that said "I strongly recommend that you buy one copy of Peopleware for yourself and another copy for your boss. If you are a boss, then buy one for everyone in your department, and buy one for your boss." The advice still holds 12 years later, and my recommendation is even more enthusiastic Ñ the new edition has 8 new chapters, covering such topics as competition, process improvement programs, "teamicide revisited," organizational learning, the concept of "human capital," a discussion of the "ultimate" management sin, and some excellent suggestions on how best to create a software development community."

 —Ed Yourdon
American Programmer


"challenges the modern myth that technology is the cornerstone of productivity. It makes you think about creating a culture that allows people to work (more) effectively."

 —Rose Ann Giordano
Digital Equipment Corp.


"addresses the fundamental issues of knowledge worker productivity that managers have for so long ignored."

 —Michael W. Bealmear
Coopers & Lybrand


"casts a new light on human behavior in development projects."

 —Tomoo Matsubara
Hitachi Software Engineering Co.


"DeMarco and Lister are, at once, entertaining story tellers and astute observers of the project management scene."

 —John H. Taylor
E.I. du Pont Nemours & Co.


"The book is an unremitting defense of the people part of the productivity equation, backed by statistics and anecdotes."

 —George Harrar
Computerworld


"The light and humorous style of the original is preserved in the new section. Twelve years after the publication of the first edition, the lessons presented remain as valid as at the time of original publication, attesting to the fact that, in general, managers do not read books about management (or at least do not learn from them)."

J.J. Hirschfelder
Computing Reviews


"If you hire people for their brains, you can't treat them like modular components and expect an able, creative crew to emerge. That's the basic message in Peopleware. . . . fun to read because the authors illustrate their analyses and solutions with war stories drawn from their consulting experience. But this well-researched book is also persuasive because its advice is backed up by firm scholarship."

 —PC World


". . . the authors buttress their assertions with empirical data collected from studies involving some 900 programmers and analysts. . . . All of the chapters contain insights and novel approaches that will make readers and managers look at important issues from a new vantage point. . . . Its messages are important, and the book deserves a place on the shelf of every software manager and every software management consultant."

 —T. Capers Jones
CASE Outlook


"Lister and [DeMarco] savagely destroy a sizeable chunk of received wisdom, using by turns well-picked example, epigramatic darts, careful reasoning and even data. . . . even if you disagree with what DeMarco and Lister say, you will enjoy how they say it, and you will go away thinking. Get the book and read it. Then give it to your manager. Or, if you dare, your subordinates."

 —Alan Campbell
Computing, London


"In addition to being critically important, the book has a rare characteristic: it is fun to read. . . . it provides ideas and information for any systems development manager to help improve the craft of system development."

 —Albert L. LeDuc
CAUSE/EFFECT


"It would be an understatement to call this book a must for project managers. In seeking a new job, I would ask my prospective boss what he thought of this book. A positive response would be worth about $5000 in comparing job offers."

 —Rich Cohen


"The original publication of Tom DeMarco and Timopthy Lister's Peopleware was a watershed event. . . . DeMarco and Lister for the first time presented a compelling case for elevating people-centered considerations from their common position as an afterthought to center stage. . . .

"With this influential track record, the new revision of Peopleware is one of the few books I will buy sight unseen."

—Steve McConnell
IEEE Software


"There's not a whole lot I can say about the new edition of Peopleware, except "Buy this book!!!!" If you're not familiar with this classic of management practice, you have a treat coming. And if you are familiar with it, DeMarco and Lister have sweetened the pot with eight new chapters covering everything from the change process . . ."

—Sue Petersen
Visual Developer


". . . Now we've all heard about hardware, software, shareware, and even vapourware. So, what is peopleware? Well, it is about the only raw material that matters in the software world -- people. It is all about how people must be managed, the kind of work environments that software companies must provide, and the kind of managers/senior leaders that you must have in the profession for a company to succeed.

"A must read book for anyone, including those not in the profession."

Gops Writings

Features
Reviews
  
  
Excerpt: "Teamicide Revisited"
  
Author Interview
Interview with Tom DeMarco on Qualityplustech
Windows Media      
Real Audio
Interview with Timothy Lister on Qualityplustech
Windows Media
Real Audio

Downloads
Dorset House Catalog
 

By this Author
Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies (DeMarco, Lister, et al.)
The Deadline (DeMarco)
Slack (DeMarco)
Software State-of-the-Art
Waltzing With Bears

Also Recommended

Adaptive Software Development, by James A. Highsmith III

Dr. Peeling's Principles of Management, by Nic Peeling

Five Core Metrics, by Lawrence H. Putnam and Ware Myers
Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds, by Johanna Rothman
Just Enough Requirements Management, by Alan M. Davis

Software Endgames, by Robert Galen

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