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Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
Demarco and Lister demonstrate that the major issues of software development are human, not technical. Their answers aren't easy--just incredibly successful. New second edition features eight all-new chapters. Softcover. Previous edition: c1987. DLC: Management.
245 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
About the author
Tom DeMarco
26 books212 followersTom DeMarco is the author of fifteen books, including five novels, a collection of short stories and the rest business books. His most recent work is a seemingly jinxed love story, The One-Way Time Traveler.
Before that he wrote Dark Harbor House, and before that Slack and Peopleware and The Deadline.
Before that he wrote Dark Harbor House, and before that Slack and Peopleware and The Deadline.
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March 22, 2010
Peopleware is something of a classic in the world of Development management and it makes sense why. The book is straightforward, short, practical and influential. Below I have summarized some of the major points of the book:
1. First ask: should it be done at all?
2. Protect your workers personal lives
3. Turnover is an expense which is seldom measured. Moving causes turnover. Training prevents turnover.
4. Workers will work for quality, to be and make the best.
5. Interruption is expensive for mind workers (measure uninterrupted hours)
6. Workers need space. They want to customize it.
7. Give workers the tools to measure their productivity w/o threat of raises.
8. Eat together.
9. Hire workers who think in different ways than your current workers
10. Require portfolios for hiring, bring the team that will work with them into the hiring process.
11. Methodologies are restrictive. Instead offer training, tools, and peer review.
1. First ask: should it be done at all?
2. Protect your workers personal lives
3. Turnover is an expense which is seldom measured. Moving causes turnover. Training prevents turnover.
4. Workers will work for quality, to be and make the best.
5. Interruption is expensive for mind workers (measure uninterrupted hours)
6. Workers need space. They want to customize it.
7. Give workers the tools to measure their productivity w/o threat of raises.
8. Eat together.
9. Hire workers who think in different ways than your current workers
10. Require portfolios for hiring, bring the team that will work with them into the hiring process.
11. Methodologies are restrictive. Instead offer training, tools, and peer review.
August 24, 2011
Got on my wish list via amazon lists, and based on the title "Peopleware", I thought it focussed a lot more on people interaction and how they act and react, and shape up to be a team. What I got was a book full of tips & tricks for large scale organizations on how to tell managers not to disturb people who are working.
The whole book can be summed up in one sentence: Managers work by letting other people work - they need to simply keep off al disruptive events so the team can do it's "thing". That's common sense. A lot of other tricks are not really related to practical productivity tips but rather abstract. A lot of chapters are devoted to window/cubicle placement, noise cancellation etc - which is not something I was really interested in.
Maybe I just got the wrong expectations. It's still a good book to read, but a lot of it can be reduced into the same thing.
The whole book can be summed up in one sentence: Managers work by letting other people work - they need to simply keep off al disruptive events so the team can do it's "thing". That's common sense. A lot of other tricks are not really related to practical productivity tips but rather abstract. A lot of chapters are devoted to window/cubicle placement, noise cancellation etc - which is not something I was really interested in.
Maybe I just got the wrong expectations. It's still a good book to read, but a lot of it can be reduced into the same thing.
July 14, 2018
سال ۱۹۸۶، محصولات نرم‌افزاری از دو وجهه‌ی سخت‌افزار و نرم‌افزار تشکیل شده بودن. از سال ۱۹۸۷، با انتشار این کتاب، محصولات نرم‌افزاری از سه وجهه‌ی نرم‌افزار، سخت‌افزار و فردافزار تشکیل شده‌ن.
این کتاب عزیز که همینطور بی فکر و دلیل دوست دارم اسمش رو فردافزار بذارم، کتابیه که مروری بر تمام جنبه‌های مدیریت، با تمرکز بر مدیریت پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری داره، و حول یک محور و یک شعار:
موانع بر سر راه پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری، بیش از اون که فن‌آورانه و تکنیکی باشن، جامعه‌شناختی‌ان.
کتابیه که شاید باید هر سال خوندش و ازش استفاده کرد. سیر تا پیاز فرآیند مدیریت پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری و کامپیوتری رو با نگاه جامعه‌شناختی و روان‌شناختی بررسی می‌کنه و به جای تصحیح فرآیند‌های کاری و تکنولوژیک، درباره‌ی تصحیح رفتارها و عمکردها و نگاه ما در مدیریت صحبت می‌کنه. مدیر رو روشن می‌کنه که کارمند یه ماشین نیست، یه انسانه و نه تنها اجازه، بلکه حق اشتباه کردن داره. کارمند یه انسانه و کاری که داره انجام می‌ده شاید یکی از علایقش و در بهترین حالت بزرگترین علاقه‌شه، نه تمام زندگیش. چطور می‌شه برای احیای پروژه‌ای که در حال شکسته، به جای تزریق منابع و نیرو و مذاکره، رفتارمون با کارمندهامون رو تغییر بدیم و به همه اجازه بدیم نگاه تازه‌ای به کار و برنامه‌نویسی و طراحی و تحلیل و هر اتفاق تکنیکی دیگه‌ای داشته باشن.
یکی از فوق‌العادگی‌های این کتاب، گستردگی مباحثیه که مطرح کرده. از نحوه‌ی صحبت کردن توی جلسات، تا چیدمان صحیح اتاق کار، تا سیاست مرخصی دادن و اضافه‌کار خواستن و همه‌چیز رو ریز به ریز تحلیل می‌کنه و توصیه ارائه می‌ده. چیزی که خیلی نگرانش بودم، این بود که با وجود این میزان گستردگی (۶ بخش، ۳۹ فصل، در حدود ۲۳۰ صفحه کتاب) چطور توصیه‌ها و تحلیل‌ها رو به خاطر بسپرم. اما هوشمندی جالبی که نویسنده به خرج داده، انتخاب جالب اسم فصل‌هاست، طوری که بعد از چند روز از شروع این نگرانی، چشمم به فهرست افتاد و با دیدن اسم هرکدوم از فصل‌ها، مثل کیمونوی باز، شام اسپاگتی، همین الآن یه جا یه پروژه داره شکست می‌خوره، تیم سیاه، و... محتوا و حرف اصلی نویسنده‌ها توی اون فصل رو به خوبی به خاطر آوردم. و این تیزهوشی دو نویسنده رو می‌رسونه.
برای کسانی که با مدیریت پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری سر و کار دارن به شدت، و برای کسانی که با سایر فرم‌های مدیریت سر و کار دارن بی شدت پیشنهاد می‌کنم.
این کتاب عزیز که همینطور بی فکر و دلیل دوست دارم اسمش رو فردافزار بذارم، کتابیه که مروری بر تمام جنبه‌های مدیریت، با تمرکز بر مدیریت پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری داره، و حول یک محور و یک شعار:
موانع بر سر راه پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری، بیش از اون که فن‌آورانه و تکنیکی باشن، جامعه‌شناختی‌ان.
کتابیه که شاید باید هر سال خوندش و ازش استفاده کرد. سیر تا پیاز فرآیند مدیریت پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری و کامپیوتری رو با نگاه جامعه‌شناختی و روان‌شناختی بررسی می‌کنه و به جای تصحیح فرآیند‌های کاری و تکنولوژیک، درباره‌ی تصحیح رفتارها و عمکردها و نگاه ما در مدیریت صحبت می‌کنه. مدیر رو روشن می‌کنه که کارمند یه ماشین نیست، یه انسانه و نه تنها اجازه، بلکه حق اشتباه کردن داره. کارمند یه انسانه و کاری که داره انجام می‌ده شاید یکی از علایقش و در بهترین حالت بزرگترین علاقه‌شه، نه تمام زندگیش. چطور می‌شه برای احیای پروژه‌ای که در حال شکسته، به جای تزریق منابع و نیرو و مذاکره، رفتارمون با کارمندهامون رو تغییر بدیم و به همه اجازه بدیم نگاه تازه‌ای به کار و برنامه‌نویسی و طراحی و تحلیل و هر اتفاق تکنیکی دیگه‌ای داشته باشن.
یکی از فوق‌العادگی‌های این کتاب، گستردگی مباحثیه که مطرح کرده. از نحوه‌ی صحبت کردن توی جلسات، تا چیدمان صحیح اتاق کار، تا سیاست مرخصی دادن و اضافه‌کار خواستن و همه‌چیز رو ریز به ریز تحلیل می‌کنه و توصیه ارائه می‌ده. چیزی که خیلی نگرانش بودم، این بود که با وجود این میزان گستردگی (۶ بخش، ۳۹ فصل، در حدود ۲۳۰ صفحه کتاب) چطور توصیه‌ها و تحلیل‌ها رو به خاطر بسپرم. اما هوشمندی جالبی که نویسنده به خرج داده، انتخاب جالب اسم فصل‌هاست، طوری که بعد از چند روز از شروع این نگرانی، چشمم به فهرست افتاد و با دیدن اسم هرکدوم از فصل‌ها، مثل کیمونوی باز، شام اسپاگتی، همین الآن یه جا یه پروژه داره شکست می‌خوره، تیم سیاه، و... محتوا و حرف اصلی نویسنده‌ها توی اون فصل رو به خوبی به خاطر آوردم. و این تیزهوشی دو نویسنده رو می‌رسونه.
برای کسانی که با مدیریت پروژه‌های نرم‌افزاری سر و کار دارن به شدت، و برای کسانی که با سایر فرم‌های مدیریت سر و کار دارن بی شدت پیشنهاد می‌کنم.
March 13, 2016
A must-read, one of the best books I have ever read. I recommend it for everyone that would wishing get out from the comfort zone in our development. This book presents the forgot notion that people are the core of development process. And the most incredible fact of this book is that he has more than forty years since his first publication and keeps unknown for a great part of our managers.
January 18, 2015
Excellent. Must-read for anyone who manages, or is being managed. I now have a better feel for just why I hate my cubicle so much, and how it's not just impacting my work today, but my entire career, by dampening my creativity. I have to listen to music to drown out the background noise, and this occupies my right brain to the point where I'm probably missing some really clever shortcuts and insight in my work. "You'll get nothing done here between 9 and 5" really resonated with me: the most productive academics do a LOT of work in the evenings, since our days get eaten up by paperwork and meetings pretty quickly. Yet at the same time, we're encouraged to have 'work-life-balance' or risk burnout. Why isn't the management and the administration making our lives easier? Because they're afraid of us and don't trust us, essentially.
This book has helped me plan out a few things I will do differently (take off my headphones when the background is bearable, be stricter about keeping long uninterrupted blocks of time free to work, mute my phone completely and set the answer message to "email me"), some ways in which I will approach my colleagues differently (realise that our bonding over non-work topics isn't goofing off, it's building connections that help us function as a team), and some things I will try approaching my manager about (that I won't post here ;) ). I will probably reread this book every time I change roles and become more senior: I hope that someday I will be able to do a better job fighting the Furniture Police and creating environments for teams to jell and thrive than any manager I've ever had. In the meantime I'll be recommending this to everyone in a white-collar environment.
This book has helped me plan out a few things I will do differently (take off my headphones when the background is bearable, be stricter about keeping long uninterrupted blocks of time free to work, mute my phone completely and set the answer message to "email me"), some ways in which I will approach my colleagues differently (realise that our bonding over non-work topics isn't goofing off, it's building connections that help us function as a team), and some things I will try approaching my manager about (that I won't post here ;) ). I will probably reread this book every time I change roles and become more senior: I hope that someday I will be able to do a better job fighting the Furniture Police and creating environments for teams to jell and thrive than any manager I've ever had. In the meantime I'll be recommending this to everyone in a white-collar environment.
January 8, 2019
I've heard praise of this book for many years but didn't get around to read it. It does indeed deserve all its praise of being a must read for managers in IT and other knowledge work. Especially considering its first edition came out in 1987, more than 30 years ago. I can only guess how radical it appeared back then. More surprising is why most managers in the mainstream industry have been happily ignoring authors' advice and instilling interrupt- and deadline-driven teamicide culture in their organizations all around the world. I found myself guilty of those same mistakes at bad times as well.
I shall re-read this book every year and measure how less embarrassed I feel reading it from year to year.
I shall re-read this book every year and measure how less embarrassed I feel reading it from year to year.
January 28, 2020
As I am working my way up the ranks of the software engineering reporting line, I am becoming more and more interested in what people have to say about effective management and team organisation and collaboration. Thus, I have picked “Peopleware” in the hope that I will get some guidance on these elusive subjects.
To be honest, I have had difficulties writing this review, as I haven’t found “Peopleware” full of novel concepts nor filled with unfounded practical suggestions. It was just an “okay” book. One can definitely sense the age of some ideas captured in these pages, some of which I am not sure survived the test of time (e.g. the views regarding the ideal office environment). Nevertheless, the authors offered a decent amount of gold nuggets that point to further reading and research, as it was expected from a book that is considered a must-have in the bookshelf of every software manager even after so long since it was first published.
Tips on productivity and how it coexists with quality (thus we should not be choosing one in favour of the other), estimation processes and what’s the most effective one, the most common traps to avoid when aiming to improve our velocity … this book has got them all!
However, in my opinion, the most interesting idea was that they consider that the major problems of our work are not, in fact, technological, but sociological. I felt guilty whilst reading this because it is true that I have treated (and probably, in some scenarios, still am) people as though they were modular components. I was focused on making the human-machine run without hiccups, by taking a hard line about people goofing off on the job and treating people as interchangeable pieces of a complicated (but “surely” optimizable) system. In my not-so-pertinent defence, software engineers are very prone to this, as their entire career is built around modularizing, abstracting and optimizing an interconnected mesh of components.
However, while this approach might be suited for a production line, it does not help in the context of very intellectual demanding work. There is a name for this mindset: “the cheeseburger mentality”, in which a manager is promoting an environment where people’s spirits are dampened and their attention is not focused on the real problems.
“Peopleware” helped me appreciate in more depth the complexity of human individuality and harmonious teams and the fact that a natural people manager realizes that uniqueness is what makes project chemistry vital and effective. “The manager’s function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work.”
To be honest, I have had difficulties writing this review, as I haven’t found “Peopleware” full of novel concepts nor filled with unfounded practical suggestions. It was just an “okay” book. One can definitely sense the age of some ideas captured in these pages, some of which I am not sure survived the test of time (e.g. the views regarding the ideal office environment). Nevertheless, the authors offered a decent amount of gold nuggets that point to further reading and research, as it was expected from a book that is considered a must-have in the bookshelf of every software manager even after so long since it was first published.
Tips on productivity and how it coexists with quality (thus we should not be choosing one in favour of the other), estimation processes and what’s the most effective one, the most common traps to avoid when aiming to improve our velocity … this book has got them all!
However, in my opinion, the most interesting idea was that they consider that the major problems of our work are not, in fact, technological, but sociological. I felt guilty whilst reading this because it is true that I have treated (and probably, in some scenarios, still am) people as though they were modular components. I was focused on making the human-machine run without hiccups, by taking a hard line about people goofing off on the job and treating people as interchangeable pieces of a complicated (but “surely” optimizable) system. In my not-so-pertinent defence, software engineers are very prone to this, as their entire career is built around modularizing, abstracting and optimizing an interconnected mesh of components.
However, while this approach might be suited for a production line, it does not help in the context of very intellectual demanding work. There is a name for this mindset: “the cheeseburger mentality”, in which a manager is promoting an environment where people’s spirits are dampened and their attention is not focused on the real problems.
“Peopleware” helped me appreciate in more depth the complexity of human individuality and harmonious teams and the fact that a natural people manager realizes that uniqueness is what makes project chemistry vital and effective. “The manager’s function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work.”
January 24, 2016
DeMarco/Lister sound so reasonable that it's hard not to take their theories as facts, but it's mostly anecdotal and should be taken with a grain of salt. In particular, some things that they treats as "teamicidal" are useful for other reasons.
I think clarifying how information is passed around in an organization would be useful–they point at it when they mention "coaching" but could be more explicit.
In general, a good book, and if you're a software engineer or a software engineering manager you should read it, but make sure not to take it as gospel.
I think clarifying how information is passed around in an organization would be useful–they point at it when they mention "coaching" but could be more explicit.
In general, a good book, and if you're a software engineer or a software engineering manager you should read it, but make sure not to take it as gospel.
February 4, 2018
بر هرکسی که در دنیای نرم‌افزار کار می‌کنه، خوندن این کتاب واجبه.
September 8, 2014
A good read on how to build strong teams and how to be a good manager. Lots of interesting topics, including the role of product quality, methodologies, schedules, productivity, trust, freedom, and office planning.
Some good quotes from the book:
The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature.
We Haven't Got Time to Think About This Job, Only to Do It
Historians long ago formed an abstraction about different theories of value: The Spanish Theory, for one, held that only a fixed amount of value existed on earth, and therefore the path to the accumulation of wealth was to learn to extract it more efficiently from the soil or from people's backs. Then there was the English Theory that held that value could be created through ingenuity and technology. So the English had an Industrial Revolution, while the Spanish spun their wheels trying to exploit the land and the Indians in the New World. They moved huge quantities of gold across the ocean, and all they got for their effort was enormous inflation (too much gold money chasing too few usable goods).
Writing in 1954, the British author C. Northcote Parkinson introduced the notion that work expands to fill the time allocated for it, now known as Parkinson's Law.
Projects [in the Productivity by Estimation Approach study] on which the boss applied no schedule pressure whatsoever ("Just wake me up when you're done.") had the highest productivity of all.
Three rules of thumb seem to apply whenever you measure variations in performance over a sample of individuals: Count on the best people outperforming the worst by about 10:1. Count on the best performer being about 2.5 times better than the median performer. Count on the half that are better-than-median performers outdoing the other half by more than 2:1.
"Anything you need to quantify can be measured In some way that Is superior to not measuring it at all." Gilb's Law doesn't promise you that measurement will be free or even cheap, and it may not be perfect—just better than nothing.
Your people bring their brains with them every morning. They could put them to work for you at no additional cost if only there were a small measure of peace and quiet in the workplace.
The company would love for every one of us to have a window, we hear, but that just isn't realistic. Sure it is. There is a perfect proof that sufficient windows can be built into a space without excessive cost. The existence proof is the hotel, any hotel. You can't even imagine being shown a hotel room with no window.
The best way we've discovered to do this is through the use of auditions for job candidates. The idea is simple enough. You ask a candidate to prepare a ten- or fifteen-minute presentation on some aspect of past work.
The best organizations are not of a kind; they are more notable for their dissimilarities than for their likenesses. But one thing that they all share is a preoccupation with being the best. It is a constant topic in the corridors, in working meetings, and in bull sessions. The converse of this effect is equally true: In organizations that are not "the best," the topic is rarely or never discussed.
The maddening thing about most of our organizations is that they are only as good as the people who staff them. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get around that natural limit, and have good organizations even though they were staffed by mediocre or incompetent people? Nothing could be easier—all we need is (trumpet fanfare, please) a Methodology.
The Hawthorne Effect. Loosely stated, it says that people perform better when they're trying something new.
Believing that workers will automatically accept organizational goals is the sign of naive managerial optimism.
In no time at all, we came up with lots of sure-fire ways to inhibit the formation of teams and disrupt project sociology. These measures, taken together, constitute a strategy we dubbed teamicide. Our short list of teamicide techniques is presented below: defensive management; bureaucracy; physical separation; fragmentation of people' s time; quality reduction of the product; phony deadlines; clique control.
The only freedom that has any meaning is the freedom to proceed differently from the way your manager would have proceeded. This is true in a broader sense, too: The right to be right (in your manager's eyes or in your government's eyes) is irrelevant; it's only the right to be wrong that makes you free.
The heading used here is a facetious one; nobody really talks about quality-reduced products. What they talk about is cost-reduced products. But it usually boils down to the same thing. The typical steps we take to deliver a product in less time result in lower quality. Often the product's end user gives willing consent to this trade-off (less quality for earlier, cheaper delivery). But such concessions can be very painful for the developers. Their self-esteem and enjoyment are undermined by the necessity of building a product of clearly lower quality than what they are capable of.
The common thread is that good managers provide frequent easy opportunities for the team to succeed together. The opportunities may be tiny pilot sub-projects, or demonstrations, or simulations, anything that gets the team quickly into the habit of succeeding together.
The fundamental response to change is not logical, but emotional.
This is part of the reason why response to change is so emotional. It is frustrating and embarrassing to abandon approaches and methods you have long since mastered, only to become a novice again.
Most of us today live in places that aren't really communities at all. People don't know their neighbors very well, they commute out to work someplace else, and nobody expects the kids to settle down in the same town.
Some good quotes from the book:
The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature.
We Haven't Got Time to Think About This Job, Only to Do It
Historians long ago formed an abstraction about different theories of value: The Spanish Theory, for one, held that only a fixed amount of value existed on earth, and therefore the path to the accumulation of wealth was to learn to extract it more efficiently from the soil or from people's backs. Then there was the English Theory that held that value could be created through ingenuity and technology. So the English had an Industrial Revolution, while the Spanish spun their wheels trying to exploit the land and the Indians in the New World. They moved huge quantities of gold across the ocean, and all they got for their effort was enormous inflation (too much gold money chasing too few usable goods).
Writing in 1954, the British author C. Northcote Parkinson introduced the notion that work expands to fill the time allocated for it, now known as Parkinson's Law.
Projects [in the Productivity by Estimation Approach study] on which the boss applied no schedule pressure whatsoever ("Just wake me up when you're done.") had the highest productivity of all.
Three rules of thumb seem to apply whenever you measure variations in performance over a sample of individuals: Count on the best people outperforming the worst by about 10:1. Count on the best performer being about 2.5 times better than the median performer. Count on the half that are better-than-median performers outdoing the other half by more than 2:1.
"Anything you need to quantify can be measured In some way that Is superior to not measuring it at all." Gilb's Law doesn't promise you that measurement will be free or even cheap, and it may not be perfect—just better than nothing.
Your people bring their brains with them every morning. They could put them to work for you at no additional cost if only there were a small measure of peace and quiet in the workplace.
The company would love for every one of us to have a window, we hear, but that just isn't realistic. Sure it is. There is a perfect proof that sufficient windows can be built into a space without excessive cost. The existence proof is the hotel, any hotel. You can't even imagine being shown a hotel room with no window.
The best way we've discovered to do this is through the use of auditions for job candidates. The idea is simple enough. You ask a candidate to prepare a ten- or fifteen-minute presentation on some aspect of past work.
The best organizations are not of a kind; they are more notable for their dissimilarities than for their likenesses. But one thing that they all share is a preoccupation with being the best. It is a constant topic in the corridors, in working meetings, and in bull sessions. The converse of this effect is equally true: In organizations that are not "the best," the topic is rarely or never discussed.
The maddening thing about most of our organizations is that they are only as good as the people who staff them. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get around that natural limit, and have good organizations even though they were staffed by mediocre or incompetent people? Nothing could be easier—all we need is (trumpet fanfare, please) a Methodology.
The Hawthorne Effect. Loosely stated, it says that people perform better when they're trying something new.
Believing that workers will automatically accept organizational goals is the sign of naive managerial optimism.
In no time at all, we came up with lots of sure-fire ways to inhibit the formation of teams and disrupt project sociology. These measures, taken together, constitute a strategy we dubbed teamicide. Our short list of teamicide techniques is presented below: defensive management; bureaucracy; physical separation; fragmentation of people' s time; quality reduction of the product; phony deadlines; clique control.
The only freedom that has any meaning is the freedom to proceed differently from the way your manager would have proceeded. This is true in a broader sense, too: The right to be right (in your manager's eyes or in your government's eyes) is irrelevant; it's only the right to be wrong that makes you free.
The heading used here is a facetious one; nobody really talks about quality-reduced products. What they talk about is cost-reduced products. But it usually boils down to the same thing. The typical steps we take to deliver a product in less time result in lower quality. Often the product's end user gives willing consent to this trade-off (less quality for earlier, cheaper delivery). But such concessions can be very painful for the developers. Their self-esteem and enjoyment are undermined by the necessity of building a product of clearly lower quality than what they are capable of.
The common thread is that good managers provide frequent easy opportunities for the team to succeed together. The opportunities may be tiny pilot sub-projects, or demonstrations, or simulations, anything that gets the team quickly into the habit of succeeding together.
The fundamental response to change is not logical, but emotional.
This is part of the reason why response to change is so emotional. It is frustrating and embarrassing to abandon approaches and methods you have long since mastered, only to become a novice again.
Most of us today live in places that aren't really communities at all. People don't know their neighbors very well, they commute out to work someplace else, and nobody expects the kids to settle down in the same town.
July 25, 2008
Written for software developers in a project sense, it is of much more global impact to skills managers & leaders need. This is the reference book (among several) that any working person should read, as it provides insight into how our managers can work better and how eventually we can be better managers. The snapshot it provides is the reference managers need to work effectively.
What DeMarco and Lister have provided is what could be read as a field manual for managers. Indeed if you consider that the some parts of US military is extremely effective at creating leaders and innovators (in addition to creating mega-bureaucracies and contradicting the innovation), then you can see how much management is a commonality that the military codified and mastered. Esprit de corp, small units, independence and responsibility, etc. are all elements that military's use, not because they developed them, but because they recognize they are a commonality in human management.
Of course this analogy can only be taken so far, but what DeMarco and Lister have provided is powerful deductive analysis based on the best theories we have, experience of effective management, and as much data as they could absorb. What's more they didn't jargonize it beyond the layman's ability to read, it's a book for anyone (as it should be). With over 50% of the business in the US being classified as small businesses, the ones who need to learn this are not highly educated business men (although I'm sure this wouldn't hurt many) it is the mom & pop shops that drive our economy.
I hope they are compelled to update this and write a 3rd edition, perhaps toned less for the software developers and more for the general public.
What DeMarco and Lister have provided is what could be read as a field manual for managers. Indeed if you consider that the some parts of US military is extremely effective at creating leaders and innovators (in addition to creating mega-bureaucracies and contradicting the innovation), then you can see how much management is a commonality that the military codified and mastered. Esprit de corp, small units, independence and responsibility, etc. are all elements that military's use, not because they developed them, but because they recognize they are a commonality in human management.
Of course this analogy can only be taken so far, but what DeMarco and Lister have provided is powerful deductive analysis based on the best theories we have, experience of effective management, and as much data as they could absorb. What's more they didn't jargonize it beyond the layman's ability to read, it's a book for anyone (as it should be). With over 50% of the business in the US being classified as small businesses, the ones who need to learn this are not highly educated business men (although I'm sure this wouldn't hurt many) it is the mom & pop shops that drive our economy.
I hope they are compelled to update this and write a 3rd edition, perhaps toned less for the software developers and more for the general public.
March 9, 2016
It is basically a sociology within teams and projects with many great examples from real world and psychology applied. If you are in a management position I would say this is a must read gem for you. Author has great critical thinking and writes about workplaces, teams and projects in sometimes even radical way.
When it comes to work, I always used to put technology over everything, but it convinced me that sociology > technology. It is supposed to be productive, satisfying fun to work. If it isn't, then there is nothing else worth concentrating on. The best work and the most successful projects are being done by "jelled" teams and this is bread and butter to create chemistry for team formation.
5 stars for doing such a big influence on me.
When it comes to work, I always used to put technology over everything, but it convinced me that sociology > technology. It is supposed to be productive, satisfying fun to work. If it isn't, then there is nothing else worth concentrating on. The best work and the most successful projects are being done by "jelled" teams and this is bread and butter to create chemistry for team formation.
5 stars for doing such a big influence on me.
March 22, 2018
I would say that this is an essential read for everyone. And it doesn't matter whether you manager or being managed. This book in a very concise and straightforward manner tells about building successful and effective teams. And while there is no single recipe for building a great team, it could help find and eliminate obstacles in this way.
Not once while reading this book I wanted to shout "I knew it!", because somewhere deep I felt that open space is the best way to kill productivity or that without spending some time together it is really hard to build a team. But in this book, I not only found some proof for this thoughts but also many other little things that I may not have realized but which affects everyday work.
Not once while reading this book I wanted to shout "I knew it!", because somewhere deep I felt that open space is the best way to kill productivity or that without spending some time together it is really hard to build a team. But in this book, I not only found some proof for this thoughts but also many other little things that I may not have realized but which affects everyday work.
March 11, 2018
Неплохие наблюдения по продуктивности команд разработчиков. Не теория, но ряд полезных принципов.
March 18, 2021
A collection of essays, each a few pages at most, about how to manage teams. The focus is definitely on software developers, though most teams of creative types would benefit from the advice here. Probably more impactful in the 80s and 90s - most successful teams follow these ideas today. Still, a nugget or two of good information.
Part of a group of books (and all about the same size) purchased at my first serious job. Many of these weren't followed, and the group and company were less successful. Worth flipping through this book if you are stressed by your work situation or team relations - there might be a suggestion or two here.
Part of a group of books (and all about the same size) purchased at my first serious job. Many of these weren't followed, and the group and company were less successful. Worth flipping through this book if you are stressed by your work situation or team relations - there might be a suggestion or two here.
January 12, 2018
Better read at my technical blog
Summary
Peopleware is a book about sociology within software companies. The thesis is that projects fail because of “social” reasons, not technical ones.
Part I focuses on the individual. You must understand his or her motivations and perceptions to be able to act accordingly. What people builds, and how is it done (quality, deadlines…) has a huge impact on motivation.
Part II disembowels current trend of nasty open spaces at offices, and offers many improvements over that approach. Brain work is not compatible with noise and interruptions, and we must actively fight against them.
Getting new people in the team and retaining them is Part III topic. Hiring should involve not only technical aspects but also sociological, and diversity plays a key role there. A good hiring policy is pointless without taking care of the team to avoid turnover.
A team is much more than a group of people, as Part IV explains. A jelled team is great, but ruining it is easy: there are many ways to spoil it but only a few to build it up. A shared goal is probably the most important factor, and avoiding defensive management is the best approach.
Part V explains how to cope with the organization surrounding the team. Methodologies, risk management, meetings or communication are policies that are usually beyond the area of control of a team, but they have a huge impact on people.
The last Part, VI, gives some hints about why people feel that their work is a dull, old-fashioned “job”, and how can you fight against it, including activities (war games), approaches to new projects, ad-hoc positions… And it ends with a manifesto about pushing changes.
Evaluation
The whole book succedes presenting several common underlying trends:
Embrace human nature, don’t fight against it: encourage natural interactions, understand that people is opinionated…
Fragmentation is often wrong.
Work on team motivations and needs, which are people motivations, not company-wide ones.
Some chaos is fine.
One of the most thought-provoking themes through the book is rejection of homogeneity. Sometimes the work of the manager and the company-wide strategies encourages standarization, but authors back heterogeneity up.
Quality pays off. Quality pays off. Repeat until you can’t disagree.
The book holds that the classic concept of management (order, control, push dates…) is totally wrong, and the “good management” is actually the art of making people get the most of them while the manager is invisible. I must agree.
I really miss a section about remote working in this edition. It’s not trivial and it has a lot of sociological implications, so a chapter or two would’ve been a must. There’s not a single mention about it! Bummer.
For me, this is a must-read not only for managers but for anybody involved in software development. It’d help to create awareness, critical thinking and a positive attitude about changes and team work. You could argue that many topics of the book are obvious, but the fact is that our industry is full of companies that wouldn’t pass a close exam of book suggestions, and all of us can recognize many of the wrong attitudes or actions in ourselves. Easy to say, hard to accomplish.
Summary
Peopleware is a book about sociology within software companies. The thesis is that projects fail because of “social” reasons, not technical ones.
Part I focuses on the individual. You must understand his or her motivations and perceptions to be able to act accordingly. What people builds, and how is it done (quality, deadlines…) has a huge impact on motivation.
Part II disembowels current trend of nasty open spaces at offices, and offers many improvements over that approach. Brain work is not compatible with noise and interruptions, and we must actively fight against them.
Getting new people in the team and retaining them is Part III topic. Hiring should involve not only technical aspects but also sociological, and diversity plays a key role there. A good hiring policy is pointless without taking care of the team to avoid turnover.
A team is much more than a group of people, as Part IV explains. A jelled team is great, but ruining it is easy: there are many ways to spoil it but only a few to build it up. A shared goal is probably the most important factor, and avoiding defensive management is the best approach.
Part V explains how to cope with the organization surrounding the team. Methodologies, risk management, meetings or communication are policies that are usually beyond the area of control of a team, but they have a huge impact on people.
The last Part, VI, gives some hints about why people feel that their work is a dull, old-fashioned “job”, and how can you fight against it, including activities (war games), approaches to new projects, ad-hoc positions… And it ends with a manifesto about pushing changes.
Evaluation
The whole book succedes presenting several common underlying trends:
Embrace human nature, don’t fight against it: encourage natural interactions, understand that people is opinionated…
Fragmentation is often wrong.
Work on team motivations and needs, which are people motivations, not company-wide ones.
Some chaos is fine.
One of the most thought-provoking themes through the book is rejection of homogeneity. Sometimes the work of the manager and the company-wide strategies encourages standarization, but authors back heterogeneity up.
Quality pays off. Quality pays off. Repeat until you can’t disagree.
The book holds that the classic concept of management (order, control, push dates…) is totally wrong, and the “good management” is actually the art of making people get the most of them while the manager is invisible. I must agree.
I really miss a section about remote working in this edition. It’s not trivial and it has a lot of sociological implications, so a chapter or two would’ve been a must. There’s not a single mention about it! Bummer.
For me, this is a must-read not only for managers but for anybody involved in software development. It’d help to create awareness, critical thinking and a positive attitude about changes and team work. You could argue that many topics of the book are obvious, but the fact is that our industry is full of companies that wouldn’t pass a close exam of book suggestions, and all of us can recognize many of the wrong attitudes or actions in ourselves. Easy to say, hard to accomplish.
May 10, 2015
Книга в принципе правильная, полезная, но на мой взгляд авторам не хватает более полной картины мира. А именно картины мира со стороны руководителей компаний, которые, к сожалению, поддаются критике практически на каждый странице книги. Авторы этой книги как будто хотят перевернуть все компании, заставить кардинально измениться и практически полностью преобразоваться.
Если внимательно присмотреться, то практически каждые советы и решения, которые предлагают авторы очень даже полезные. Но акценты авторов на преобразования таковы, что создаётся такое впечатление, как будто других решений и компромиссов просто не существует.
Вывод. Книга правильная, но решения п��едлагаемые авторами нужно применять с учётом картины мира, опыта, навыков и знаний не только одних подчинённых компаний, но и также их руководства, исходя из текущей обстановки, жизненного цикла, целей, приоритетов и многих других факторов.
Например книга Тома ДеМарко «Deadline Роман об управлении проектами» ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12... ) более интересно написана, но она на другую тему.
Если внимательно присмотреться, то практически каждые советы и решения, которые предлагают авторы очень даже полезные. Но акценты авторов на преобразования таковы, что создаётся такое впечатление, как будто других решений и компромиссов просто не существует.
Вывод. Книга правильная, но решения п��едлагаемые авторами нужно применять с учётом картины мира, опыта, навыков и знаний не только одних подчинённых компаний, но и также их руководства, исходя из текущей обстановки, жизненного цикла, целей, приоритетов и многих других факторов.
Например книга Тома ДеМарко «Deadline Роман об управлении проектами» ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12... ) более интересно написана, но она на другую тему.
July 19, 2015
"The ultimate sin in management us wasting people's time."
Peopleware approaches computing project management from a sociological perspective, attempting to understand the roles played by workers and middle management. It correctly chastises what the authors perceive as an excessive focus on technology -- when actually most software development is far from working with bleeding-edge technologies --, instead framing most of the issues on the development issue as arising from human problems, not technical ones. In this sense, it can be an interesting book for those interested in project management in general, but it is a must-read for those who take part or must interact with software development projects.
Peopleware approaches computing project management from a sociological perspective, attempting to understand the roles played by workers and middle management. It correctly chastises what the authors perceive as an excessive focus on technology -- when actually most software development is far from working with bleeding-edge technologies --, instead framing most of the issues on the development issue as arising from human problems, not technical ones. In this sense, it can be an interesting book for those interested in project management in general, but it is a must-read for those who take part or must interact with software development projects.
April 1, 2020
Wow. It took time. Was the first paperback I was able to finish in a long long time. Even embarrassing how long it took. That part aside - this book definitely a strong suggestion for every manager from my side. Just be sure to take the latest edition. I initially started with the second edition and reading about telephony and voice mail issues was a tat too much. Luckily got my hands on the third.
November 10, 2015
Easily one of the best books I've read in recent times. Made me understand a lot more about what works and what doesn't (and why) in the field of software development. It's an old, classic book, but reads as if it had been written yesterday.
July 25, 2020
Wow, what an engrossing book. Learned a lot from this book. Though this book is intended for line/people managers I would recommend to anyone who is working, be it in software field or any other field. Along with pragmatic programmer and clean code this book is a must read.
February 2, 2014
A true must-read for every aspiring team manager. Insightful and inspiring. I will surely be coming back to this book very often.
September 25, 2020
A bit outdated at times but hits the nail on the head in most of the chapters. I would strongly recommend this for all manager and office workers, especially in the IT industry.
January 27, 2024
The book is great! I’m a 23 year old DevOps/Software Development enthusiast and I bought this book to improve my soft skills and to be better prepared for being a manager or a leader. Here is my review.
On a negative note, I didn’t really identify with the rant through a couple of chapters about noise and physical layout of the office. Maybe the reason for that is due to my work being hybrid (although I do go to the office a lot), or even the fact that my office is quite nice. I sit by the window, noise level doesn’t bother me, I have no meaningful interruptions of work by peers or gadgets… All of which are things the author advocated for a quite a long and boring while. Despite the long way to make a point (or I should say many points) you will still benefit from his observations.
Nonetheless, the author does give you key insights about to be a good manager, or even a leader in general. I will skim through the book one more time and try to put together the points that got to me the most:
- The major problem with our work is more related to people’s relationships and communication than it is to the technology
- People are not (should not) be thought of as replaceable. Everyone is unique and that should be appreciated and not taken for granted by the manager.
- Making employees work overtime is no good.
- Quality should be dictated by the builder of the product, not by its buyer. The author argues that the delivery of a high quality product is tied to the builders’ self-esteem and productivity. If the builder is forced to deliver something mediocre (judged by their own standards) then that will negatively impact them.
- The office’s environment matters. You should have easy access to a window. Noise impacts your productivity. Uniformity serves solely as a pleasing factor for the ones in charge but serves no practical purpose for the ones who are actually going to use the place.
- Don’t listen to music while trying to some important work that will require the right-hand side of your brain.
- Interruptions screw up your “flow” ( state where you’re in deep concentration ) and when you get interrupted it takes a while to get back to flow.
-Invest in your employees’ personal development. This will create a sense of belonging and will reduce turnover rates.
- Create “jelled” teams. Invest in activities that will make the team bond and actually work like a real team.
- Don’t create toxic competition between your team. Try to reward everyone in approximately the same way.
- Get off your employee’s ass. Let them focus, and let them take control of situations. Don’t micro-manage.
- Don’t establish absurd deadlines that can’t be met
- When the outcomes of not delivering a project is unthinkable, always give some time for risk planning in case it fails to be delivered by that date.
- Let your team take risks and make mistakes. Have an open mind and accept their ideas.
- Call off unnecessary meetings.
- For every meeting that you plan think about “What needs to happen for this meeting to end?” as opposed to having a meeting end only when the clock reaches a certain time. In the latter case, the meeting is not really a meeting but rather a ceremony.
- Say No to corporate email spamming.
- A little bit of chaos is good. To create healthy chaos promote: Pilot Projects, War Games, Brainstorming Sessions, invest in Training, Trips, Conferences etc
On a negative note, I didn’t really identify with the rant through a couple of chapters about noise and physical layout of the office. Maybe the reason for that is due to my work being hybrid (although I do go to the office a lot), or even the fact that my office is quite nice. I sit by the window, noise level doesn’t bother me, I have no meaningful interruptions of work by peers or gadgets… All of which are things the author advocated for a quite a long and boring while. Despite the long way to make a point (or I should say many points) you will still benefit from his observations.
Nonetheless, the author does give you key insights about to be a good manager, or even a leader in general. I will skim through the book one more time and try to put together the points that got to me the most:
- The major problem with our work is more related to people’s relationships and communication than it is to the technology
- People are not (should not) be thought of as replaceable. Everyone is unique and that should be appreciated and not taken for granted by the manager.
- Making employees work overtime is no good.
- Quality should be dictated by the builder of the product, not by its buyer. The author argues that the delivery of a high quality product is tied to the builders’ self-esteem and productivity. If the builder is forced to deliver something mediocre (judged by their own standards) then that will negatively impact them.
- The office’s environment matters. You should have easy access to a window. Noise impacts your productivity. Uniformity serves solely as a pleasing factor for the ones in charge but serves no practical purpose for the ones who are actually going to use the place.
- Don’t listen to music while trying to some important work that will require the right-hand side of your brain.
- Interruptions screw up your “flow” ( state where you’re in deep concentration ) and when you get interrupted it takes a while to get back to flow.
-Invest in your employees’ personal development. This will create a sense of belonging and will reduce turnover rates.
- Create “jelled” teams. Invest in activities that will make the team bond and actually work like a real team.
- Don’t create toxic competition between your team. Try to reward everyone in approximately the same way.
- Get off your employee’s ass. Let them focus, and let them take control of situations. Don’t micro-manage.
- Don’t establish absurd deadlines that can’t be met
- When the outcomes of not delivering a project is unthinkable, always give some time for risk planning in case it fails to be delivered by that date.
- Let your team take risks and make mistakes. Have an open mind and accept their ideas.
- Call off unnecessary meetings.
- For every meeting that you plan think about “What needs to happen for this meeting to end?” as opposed to having a meeting end only when the clock reaches a certain time. In the latter case, the meeting is not really a meeting but rather a ceremony.
- Say No to corporate email spamming.
- A little bit of chaos is good. To create healthy chaos promote: Pilot Projects, War Games, Brainstorming Sessions, invest in Training, Trips, Conferences etc
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2021
Rating based on my experience with it. If a manager were to read it, I think it would *maybe* deserve a 4/5.
Big parts of this book seemed profound at first, then when I tried to think back on the ideas, felt very obvious and self-evident. A bunch of other points were for people who have much more control over a company that I expect to have. What was reassuring, though, is that some of the less conventional practices that are also good for workers were shown to be beneficial with statistics or examples.
This book can show you how much better workplace experience could be, and what is lacking in your current job (and get a better sense of whether that is within your remit to fix).
Also, the writers were trying their darndest to seem hip and funny, with varying success.
Overall, convincing management that happy employees are good, actually, is a noble cause, it's good that this exists.
Big parts of this book seemed profound at first, then when I tried to think back on the ideas, felt very obvious and self-evident. A bunch of other points were for people who have much more control over a company that I expect to have. What was reassuring, though, is that some of the less conventional practices that are also good for workers were shown to be beneficial with statistics or examples.
This book can show you how much better workplace experience could be, and what is lacking in your current job (and get a better sense of whether that is within your remit to fix).
Also, the writers were trying their darndest to seem hip and funny, with varying success.
Overall, convincing management that happy employees are good, actually, is a noble cause, it's good that this exists.
October 28, 2021
A little dated and could probably use a new edition that explores instant messaging, remote work and other post-COVID realities. That being said, I found myself agreeing with most things in the book, especially around the need for focus time, team 'gelling', having fun at work, and the various evils that creep into corporate culture (referred to as teamicide in this book).
Overall, I would say this is required reading for any new or aspirational technology manager -- especially those that tend to steer their focus towards technology and process as opposed to the various sociological issues that are what truely matters in the formation of highly effective teams!
Overall, I would say this is required reading for any new or aspirational technology manager -- especially those that tend to steer their focus towards technology and process as opposed to the various sociological issues that are what truely matters in the formation of highly effective teams!
October 16, 2018
Quick read. Message is very clear (no longer new).
Just make sure to differentiate between the data being offered and the opinions of the writers.
I like that they touch quite a lot of subjects, though on the ones where I'm like 'Yeah! Now what kind of solutions are out there?' they fall a bit short, saying, we don't really know either. So I guess, in a way, that's also not a bad thing for me.
Just make sure to differentiate between the data being offered and the opinions of the writers.
I like that they touch quite a lot of subjects, though on the ones where I'm like 'Yeah! Now what kind of solutions are out there?' they fall a bit short, saying, we don't really know either. So I guess, in a way, that's also not a bad thing for me.
June 6, 2019
A few interesting and thought-provoking ideas plus plenty of 'common sense' stuff too. The studies and examples cited are a bit dated now (80's), but much of it remains relevant... if anything we've doubled-down on some of the mistakes we were making then.
Although many chapters will not be surprising there's still value in a well organised list of things you know but may have forgotten to consider. It mostly avoids the management book waffle at the start but loses discipline towards the end.
Pretty good - for a management book. I took quite a few notes so it obviously got me thinking.
Although many chapters will not be surprising there's still value in a well organised list of things you know but may have forgotten to consider. It mostly avoids the management book waffle at the start but loses discipline towards the end.
Pretty good - for a management book. I took quite a few notes so it obviously got me thinking.
August 8, 2017
Wonderful book. Covers many principles we know to be true on some deep level, yet are often forgotten or ignored.
Full of wisdom, kindness, and gentleness. Deeply inspiring. It has influenced how I think and help shape the goals for my life and career.
Full of wisdom, kindness, and gentleness. Deeply inspiring. It has influenced how I think and help shape the goals for my life and career.
November 26, 2017
A great book on office culture and how to build a work culture that is fun and productive. I will definitely try to action some of the points in this book, and definitely worth reading again in the future to remind myself of some of the points. Love it.
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