How are businesses responding to global changes in markets driven by changes in technology? Whatever the industry, the trends are familiar: globalization and the rise of industrial conglomerates, mergers and acquisitions, the networking of businesses and markets, outsourcing and shifts in the distribution of resources and production, all reflected in the emergence of new players, new products and services and new forms of competition. As arguably the first knowledge-based business, book publishing provides an ideal setting for the study of challenge and opportunity. The industry is currently experiencing fierce levels of competition, extreme financial pressures, restructuring and the threat of technology-induced obsolescence. Added to these are the challenges posed by new and potential entrants to the market, the emergence of new products and services, new ways of doing business, including trading in virtual markets, and the vulnerability of traditional business models. The suitability of book publishing as a context for researching the emergence of knowledge-based business becomes all too apparent. Through combining primary research with secondary analysis drawn from the relevant literatures, Books, Bytes and Business is both a readable and informative account of business in the knowledge-based economy.

“Mantle and Lichty have assembled a guide that will help you hire, motivate, and mentor a software development team that functions at the highest level. Their rules of thumb and coaching advice are great blueprints for new and experienced software engineering managers alike.” —Tom Conrad, CTO, Pandora “I wish I’d had this material available years ago. I see lots and lots of ‘meat’ in here that I’ll use over and over again as I try to become a better manager. The writing style is right on, and I love the personal anecdotes.” —Steve Johnson, VP, Custom Solutions, DigitalFish All too often, software development is deemed unmanageable. The news is filled with stories of projects that have run catastrophically over schedule and budget. Although adding some formal discipline to the development process has improved the situation, it has by no means solved the problem. How can it be, with so much time and money spent to get software development under control, that it remains so unmanageable? In Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams , Mickey W. Mantle and Ron Lichty answer that persistent question with a simple observation: You first must make programmers and software teams manageable. That is, you need to begin by understanding your people—how to hire them, motivate them, and lead them to develop and deliver great products. Drawing on their combined seventy years of software development and management experience, and highlighting the insights and wisdom of other successful managers, Mantle and Lichty provide the guidance you need to manage people and teams in order to deliver software successfully. Whether you are new to software management, or have already been working in that role, you will appreciate the real-world knowledge and practical tools packed into this guide.

The oil and gas industry is at a crossroads. Recent low prices, rapidly growing alternative fuels like renewables, the permanent swing from peak oil to super abundance, shifting consumer preferences, and global pressures to decarbonize suggest a challenged industry for the foreseeable future. Digital advances offer ways to lower costs of production, improve productivity, reduce carbon emissions, and regain public confidence. A wait-and-see attitude to digital innovation has failed many industries already, and the leaders of oil and gas urgently need guidance on how digital both disrupts and enhances their industry. Written by the world's leading experts on the intersection of digital technologies and the oil and gas industry, Bits, Bytes, and Barrels sets out the reasons why adoption is slow, describes the size and scale of both the opportunity and the threat from digital, identifies the key digital technologies and the role that they play in a digital future, and recommends a set of actions for leaders to take to accelerate the adoption of digital in the business. Providing an independent and expert perspective, Bits, Bytes, and Barrels addresses the impacts of digital across the breadth of the industry--from onshore to offshore, from upstream to midstream to integrated--and outlines a roadmap to help the decision-makers at all levels of the industry take meaningful action toward promising and rewarding digital adoption.

"Wriston acknowledges that some of the old rules - those based on human nature rather than economic dogma - still apply, but his underlying message is clear: intellectual capital is more important than physical capital in today's economy. Businesses must adapt to this reality or perish."--BOOK JACKET.

The Writer's Journal Workbook is a lively prompt for creative writers looking for help in setting themselves regular creative tasks, goals and challenges. Packed with step-by-step activities, advice and suggestions, the writer is guided through practical exercises and encouraged to put pen to paper. Are you stuck in a writing rut and don't know how to move forward? Do you lack a daily routine and need a structure to set daily or weekly writing time for yourself? Do you want somewhere to gather your writing ideas and scribbles together in one place? This workbook is the perfect place for the budding writer who wants a spark of inspiration, to sharpen their ideas and perfect their skills at their own pace. The workbook is composed around a series of have-a-go exercises with ample space (double spread) for the user to write and doodle in. This Journal Workbook will become the must-have companion for creatives on the go.

Forms you'll need for a successful business

This fully revised and updated second edition of Understanding Digital Libraries focuses on the challenges faced by both librarians and computer scientists in a field that has been dramatically altered by the growth of the Web. At every turn, the goal is practical: to show you how things you might need to do are already being done, or how they can be done. The first part of the book is devoted to technology and examines issues such as varying media requirements, indexing and classification, networks and distribution, and presentation. The second part of the book is concerned with the human contexts in which digital libraries function. Here you'll find specific and useful information on usability, preservation, scientific applications, and thorny legal and economic questions. - Thoroughly updated and expanded from original edition to include recent research, case studies and new technologies - For librarians and technologists alike, this book provides a thorough introduction to the interdisciplinary science of digital libraries - Written by Michael Lesk, a legend in computer science and a leading figure in the digital library field - Provides insights into the integration of both the technical and non-technical aspects of digital libraries