A comprehensive, practical book on software management that dispels real-world issues through relevant case studies Software managers inevitably will meet obstacles while trying to deliver quality products and provide value to customers, often with tight time restrictions. The result: Software War Stories. This book provides readers with practical advice on how to handle the many issues that can arise as a software project unfolds. It utilizes case studies that focus on what can be done to establish and meet reasonable expectations as they occur in government, industrial, and academic settings. The book also offers important discussions on both traditional and agile methods as well as lean development concepts. Software War Stories: Covers the basics of management as applied to situations ranging from agile projects to large IT projects with infrastructure problems Includes coverage of topics ranging from planning, estimating, and organizing to risk and opportunity management Uses twelve case studies to communicate lessons learned by the author in practice Offers end-of-chapter exercises, sample solutions, and a blog for providing updates and answers to readers' questions Software War Stories: Case Studies in Software Management mentors practitioners, software engineers, students and more, providing relevant situational examples encountered when managing software projects and organizations.

"Looking back, it was a time of madness: an era when billions of dollars - and even more faith - was placed in dotcom startups with inexperienced management and "Swiss cheese" business plans. Robert Glass's ComputingFailure.com is a powerful chronicle of those years, and something more: a cautionary "worst practices" guide for every entrepreneur and e-Business professional." "Glass carefully chooses his case studies for the insights they impart. The executives quoted and profiled in this book have learned hard, expensive lessons - about building compelling business models, about building compelling business models, about managing growth, and about when to ignore the venture capitalists. They've learned surprising lessons about integrating with bricks-and-mortar parent companies and about what it takes to get marketing, tech, and everyone else on the same page."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Ship That Pig: Software Horrors. Learning from real-life software development horror storiesThis book has two main sections of war stories: the back stories, from before I started to keep a regular log of things that happened, and the stories after that. All of the war stories are based on true events. I hope that this book both provides for numerous new ideas in computing, as well as to provide some insight as to how it is that the mind of a typical IT person reacts in response to stressful work situations. I believe it will be of interest to anyone who has encountered a stressful event in their life and had the urge to tell people about how they thought things should be done in light of that event. I also chronicle my experiences and thoughts to show how I came to develop some of the computer ideas that are noted in this text. I see myself as the average IT worker. I often rehash old situations and scenarios in my mind, playing through all the details. I look for things I can learn from, and things that didn't make any sense. I produce tons of ideas every day, many are repeats of other ideas but some are brand new. I feel that I should write them all down, no matter how insignificant, because I believe that even the simplest idea can really help the right person. What I hope to illustrate is that even by attempting to avoid conflict, it still finds us because of how poorly managed these projects are. Something has to be done, and I suggest various ways that these issues could be resolved. However, I don't imagine a true solution is coming anytime soon, so long as the forces that are creating these conflicts are still around. My own grandmother recently recounted to me a story that, aside from the technology used, almost exactly matched the scenarios I have encountered... but her story dates to the 1940's! From this fact alone, it is clear that the same mistakes have been repeated for long enough.

Introduction. Software runaway war stories. Software runaway remedies. Conclusions.

A critical look at how the US military is weaponizing technology and data for new kinds of warfare—and why we must resist. War Virtually is the story of how scientists, programmers, and engineers are racing to develop data-driven technologies for fighting virtual wars, both at home and abroad. In this landmark book, Roberto J. González gives us a lucid and gripping account of what lies behind the autonomous weapons, robotic systems, predictive modeling software, advanced surveillance programs, and psyops techniques that are transforming the nature of military conflict. González, a cultural anthropologist, takes a critical approach to the techno-utopian view of these advancements and their dubious promise of a less deadly and more efficient warfare. With clear, accessible prose, this book exposes the high-tech underpinnings of contemporary military operations—and the cultural assumptions they're built on. Chapters cover automated battlefield robotics; social scientists' involvement in experimental defense research; the blurred line between political consulting and propaganda in the internet era; and the military's use of big data to craft new counterinsurgency methods based on predicting conflict. González also lays bare the processes by which the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies have quietly joined forces with Big Tech, raising an alarming prospect: that someday Google, Amazon, and other Silicon Valley firms might merge with some of the world's biggest defense contractors. War Virtually takes an unflinching look at an algorithmic future—where new military technologies threaten democratic governance and human survival.

This self-help guide is for programmers who need to improve their management and leadership skills.