Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers

While many titles on software engineering and management lean toward the theoretical, this book’s candid and practical focus help distinguish it from the crowd. It also helps that the author is a good writer and mixes quotes from a variety of sources (including Jack Welch and Andy Grove). This is one of the few titles to concentrate on the all-too-common problem of good programmers promoted to project leads, where management and people skills, rather than raw programming chops, will often determine success.

Early sections outline the basic personality types that the author has encountered in software. Ranging from the gifted "architects" and "constructionists" to "magicians" and "slobs" and "salad chefs," this taxonomy is as good as any, and any reader will recognize many types encountered in any career in IT. Basic tips include mixing team personality types effectively and getting started with managing programmers, from philosophical ideas about what constitutes leadership to practical suggestions for hiring and firing, running meetings, and working as manager to improve your company's bottom line.

Noteworthy sections here on design philosophy outline the importance of thinking about architecture and reuse as you build software. Techniques like adhering to programming standards throughout your shop and designing objects with good cohesion and loose coupling are advocated here. A section on anti-patterns in management outlines the management styles that lead to trouble. (Tips for overcoming micromanagement, do-it-all/know-it-all managing, and improving communication will help you defeat these tendencies, both in yourself and others.)

Later sections survey the basics of software engineering and software process, including the Microsoft Solution Frameworks and Extreme Programming (XP) as ideas to check out. Final sections look at the author's own software for managing projects (the executable and code are downloadable). An annotated bibliography of books can provide a start for any new manager's shelf. In all, this title can be a source of comfort and advice for those taking on new leadership positions on technical teams with its wide-ranging perspective on what it takes to lead other programmers successfully. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Management techniques for programmers promoted to leadership positions, assessing your level of technical "cool," positive and negative programmer personalities (including architects, constructionists, speed demons, magicians, minimalists, analogists), trouble types (including slobs, amateurs, salad chefs), tips for new managers (including adapting to changes), dealing with project feature creep, dealing with ineffective programmers, tips for hiring and firing, promotions, organizing for success (using paper and e-mail effectively), the author's custom Administrative Director program (for organizing project tasks), corporate goals, product and project management, managing change throughout the project lifecycle, tips for running staff, design, and other meetings, effective technical leadership (designing with architecture and reuse in mind), design hints (programming standards, strong object cohesion and low coupling between objects), reviewing code, anti-patterns in management (including micromanagement, unfocused management, and misapplied genius), hints for overcoming bad management styles, leadership principles (fostering effective communication, delegating, and participating), techniques for mentoring and rewarding employees, fostering employee loyalty, leadership for different generations, case studies of several tech leaders (Andy Grove and Bill Gates), how to work with your boss (communicating deadlines and limits, overcoming inertia), techniques for managing a distributed workforce, multicultural factors in management, intro to software engineering and process (overview of the Microsoft Solutions Framework, Extreme Programming--XP--and Agile Development), craftsmanship in software, dealing with technology change and economic downturn, appendices for the author's Administrative Director software (including a code review), case studies of effective and ineffective management techniques from the field.

Product Description

Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers is a comprehensive guide&emdash;think of it as a field manual&emdash;to the management challenges of supervising and leading programmers. J. Hank Rainwater introduces new and not-so-new managers to concepts that will encourage them and help them become a strong leaders for their teams. You'll learn about the varieties of programmer personality traits and be able match personnel to projects for maximum productivity. You'll also learn how to manage your strengths and weaknesses as you improve your leadership skills, which will result in dramatic improvements to your team's success.

In this "how-to" manual that's both practical and thought-provoking, you'll find several chapters devoted to administrative aspects of your job, such as managing meetings, hiring and firing, and principles of organizing your job for success. Rainwater also describes task management software he built that you can use to organize project assignments. (The source code for this software is available for download once you own the book.) The chapter on technical leadership, which highlights the importance of architecture, design, and code reviews, also illustrates practical applications of leadership and concrete methods useful to any workplace.

Rainwater shows why things can go wrong for a leader and how to correct career-derailing problems as they arise. One chapter is devoted to the working relationship that you as a manager have with your boss, and it guides you into the best way to respond to the pressures of software project deadlines. Numerous other topics are discussed that are a necessity for anyone seeking to manage the "peopleware" aspects of software development. Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers is the definitive guide to the challenges and obstacles facing anyone who manages programmers.

Although I was put off by the author's photos in the introduction, and he quotes Steven Covey, it actually turned out to be quite good: it crystallized my thoughts in some areas and gave me brand new thoughts in others. And when you mostly agree with someone, maybe you should give those items you don't agree with, or rarely think about, another look.

The points I agreed with: avoid unnecessary meetings; leads can't be programmers anymore, but leads have to still code; hiring people you can't communicate with is no good, even if they're superstars; keep track of the tasks people are working on (duh); software development is more like gardening than construction (watching Greenfingers the other night I discovered that gardeners go through a design phase too); micromanagement is bad; geniuses shouldn't be made managers; borrow from software methodologies, don't accept one as a whole package.

And the points I realized where I had room for improvement: delegate, inspect, organize, and manage meetings. Since I read the book, about a year ago, I've tried to follow some of his advice in these areas. Some of it has worked, some hasn't, but I don't regret experimenting with any of it.

If you're like me, and you read almost every software management book you can get your hands on, this should be in your collection too.


keep thinking   March 24, 2005
W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Rainwater offers much advice on what are mostly intangible issues of leading a programming team. In large part, he directs this at a senior programmer or developer who has hitherto dealt mostly with purely technical matters. But now you've risen to this supposedly exalted management role, where your background may not be enough for you to feel fully comfortable.

So Rainwater talks about various soft topics like recruiting, conducting meetings and evaluating your team. Reassuringly, he says that with concentration you can develop and improve these skills.

But he also makes an astute observation. That thinking is absolutely crucial to your success. That you should practise this continuously and not just in the office. What he says here is correct, but the scope is not limited to just those leading a team. If you're a technology professional, ultimately your value comes from applying your intellect to the utmost. As a professional inventor, I found his remarks to be spot on to my situation. Where by focusing steadily on a problem, I have found novel solutions, and depths to the problem that in turn led to more complete solutions.


It is a good book for beginners   January 16, 2006
Alexei Ischouk (Russia)
0 out of 8 found this review helpful

Good


Too little substance and too many clichés....   January 15, 2003
cristof (Florence, CO, USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I really wanted to like this book. The first half of the book is well-written, and brings up good points. But the second half of the book is very light on substance and uses clichés everywhere one can see. I was also embarassed to read about the cross-national case study, as it hinted at xenophobia.

The one rather good aspect of the book is its bibliography, since it provides narratives along with the books.