Growing Software: Proven Strategies for Managing Software Engineers

Brief Contents
Contents in Detail
Copyrights
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	Book Organization and Conventions
		Company Growth Stages
		Real-Life Accounts
		Spreadsheets
		Templates
PART I: Development Team
	1: Getting Started
		Finding Your Way in a New Job
			Dealing with the Immediate
			Undergoing Initial Training
			Collecting Information
			Understanding the People
		Reluctance to Reveal Information
			Learning the Technology, Process, and Product
			Understanding the Customer
			Understanding the Corporate Business Workflow
		Back to the Big Picture
	2: Managing a Development Team
		Understanding Your Core Management Values
			Trust
			Flexibility
			Sincerity
			Confidentiality
			Respect
			Empowerment
		Communicating with Your Team
			One-on-Ones
			Project Communication
			Team Meetings
		Conflict Resolution
		Training
		Coaching
		Motivating Your Team Members
		Coaching Problem Employees
		Reviews and Evaluations
			Creating the Review
			Delivering the Review
			Providing Late and Deficient Reviews
		Additional Reading
	3: Creating an Effective Development Team
		Effective Team Organization
		Programmer Efficiency
		Office Space
		How Other Teams Communicate with Engineering
		New Manager, Old Habits
		Have Fun
		Additional Reading
	4: Growing a Software Team
		Designing a Selection Process
		Interview Traits
			Technical Skills
			Success History
			Cultural Fit
			Work Habits and Preferences
			Industry Experience
			People Skills
			Communication Skills
			Personality
			Enthusiasm
			Problem-Solving Ability
			Sense of Humor
		Pulling It All Together
			Phone Screening
			The Office Interview
			Coaching Your Interview Team
			Interview Sessions to Avoid
			Review Session
			Making the Choice
		Additional Reading
PART II: Product and Technology
	5: Defining the Product
		Product Definition Process
		Product Definition Contents
		The Whole Product Concept
		Define the Product Using Prototypes
			Prototypes in General
			Quick and Nimble Approaches
			Clickable User Interface Prototypes
			User Interface Design
		Build a Relationship with Marketing
			Avoid Poor Relationships
			Keep Marketing and Engineering Teams Together
			Build a Balanced Relationship
		Customer Perception of the Product
			Surprise! Unplanned Features
		Improving a Product in an Alpha Release
		Understanding an Existing Product’s Composition
		Additional Reading
	6: Driving Releases
		Release Planning
			Release Timeline
			Early Release Strategy
			Planning Product End of Life
		The Release Process
			Release Criteria
			Process Steps
			Post-release Review
		Release Version Identification
			Three Number Release IDs
			Patch Releases
			Component Numbers vs. Release Number
			Numbering Across Releases
			Software for the Gentleman Farmer
		Additional Reading
	7: Evaluating Your Tools and Methods
		Backing Up Intellectual Property
			Backup Frequency
			Offsite Copies
			Disk-Only Backup
		Creating and Managing Development Documentation
		Source Control Versioning
		Software Build Method and Timing
		Software Release Process
		Bug-Tracking System
		Selecting the Right Development Tools
		Additional Reading
	8: Assessing Your Technology
		System Documentation
		System Scalability
		Failure Modes
		Error Handling and Messages
		Software System Flexibility and Maintainability
		Third-Party Packages Integrated into the System
		System Application Programming Interface
		Security
		Data Reporting and Analysis
			Data Warehouse
		International Support
		Looking at the Big Picture
		Additional Reading
PART III: Outside of Engineering
	9: Working with Your Company
		Company Culture and Practices
			Corporate Style
			Management Style
			Meeting Style
		Handling Interteam Problems
		Growing Peer Relationships
		Engineering Team Respect
		Additional Reading
	10: Working with the CEO and the Executive Team
		Supporting Your Boss
			Ensuring Clarity of Goals
			Providing Useful Information
			Communicating
			Influencing Decisions
		Collaborating with the Executive Team
			Resolving Conflict
			Taking up Your Mantle with Confidence
			Opening Communication
			Collaborating Effectively
	11: Listening to Your Customers
		Customer Satisfaction
		Customer Meetings
		Closing the Deal
			When the Sales Team Overpromises
			Requests for Quotes
		Support and Customer Requests
PART IV: Making Work Flow: Projects, Process, and Quality
	12: Project Estimating
		Building an Estimate
			Creating a Task List
			Creating Task Estimates
			Considering Estimation Bias
			Building the Estimate
			Writing and Delivering the Estimate
		Collecting Raw Project Data
			Summarizing Data Using a Spreadsheet
			Engineering Maintenance and Overhead
		Additional Reading
	13: Starting a Project
		Understanding the Goal
		Assembling the Project Team
			Substitutions
			Game Delays
		Setting Priorities
		Selecting the Framework
		Mapping out the Timeline
		Creating a Project Plan
		Kickoff Meeting
		Additional Reading
	14: Project Execution and Tracking
		Managing a Project’s Execution
			The Five Rules of Project Management
		Project-Tracking Approaches
			Gantt Chart
			Project-Tracking Spreadsheet
		Change Control Process
		Risk Management
		Additional Reading
	15: Designing a Software Development Process
		What’s in a Software Development Process?
		Types of Development Processes
			Ad Hoc
			Waterfall Process
			Modified Waterfall Process
			Iterative Process
			Spiral Process
			Agile Processes
			Other Processes and Approaches
		Customizing a Process
		Selecting a Process
		Introducing a Process
		Additional Reading
	16: Process Improvement
		Creating a Process Model
			Define the Process Boundaries
			List the Process Steps
			Create a Flow Chart
			Estimate a Range of Times
			Create a Spreadsheet Model
			Verify the Model
		Analyzing the Process Model
			Process Analysis in Action
			Using the Model to Improve the Process
			Working with Other Teams
		Getting It Going
		Additional Reading
	17: Understanding Quality Assurance
		Importance of Quality
		Quality Defined
		Valuing Quality
		Quality Assessment
			The Quality Assurance Team
			QA Tools and Environment
			QA Activities
			QA Processes
			Defect-Ranking Process
			Functionality and Usefulness as Specified and Built
		QA Metrics
		The Impact of Defects on Quality and Productivity
		Additional Reading
PART V: Planning the Future
	18: Setting the Direction
		Listen to the Market
		Create a Whole Product
		Defuse Technical Time Bombs
		Plan a Technology Overhaul
		Optimize Customer Setup
	19: Product Roadmap and Strategy
		Creating a Product Roadmap
		Evaluating Choices
			Cost-Benefit Calculation
			Cost-Benefit Comparisons
		Creating One-Page Assessments
			Project Components
		Additional Reading
	20: Going Forward
A: Software Company Structure
	Company Tasks
	Typical One-Person Company
	Typical Two-Person Company
	Twelve-Person Software Company
	Twenty-four to Fifty-Person Software Company
	Hundred-Plus–Person Software Company
		Hierarchical Structure
		Matrix Organizations
		Small Product Team
		Flexible Project Teams
	Conclusion
B: Internationalization
	Internationalization Questions to Ask
		Translating Staffing and Costs
		Database Considerations
		Country and Language Requirements
		Currency Questions
		Dates, Metric, and Dimension Issues
	Best Practice Approach to Internationalization
		Locales
		Translation Process
		Quality Assurance
		Database and Import/Export
		Translation Firm
		User Interface
	Summary
C: Corporate Workflow Diagram
	Creating a Simple Workflow Diagram
	Workflow Example
Index
Updates