Dr. James Stanier

Managing software engineering efforts is a difficult task. One needs a thorough knowledge of authoring software, which itself is a rare, time-consuming accomplishment. Almost all general managers do not have an in-depth knowledge of programming (though many assume they do!). A few of the best software developers are promoted into a managerial role and have to figure out what to do on the job. Much literature on general management topics exists, but few writings center on the notoriously fickle yet narrow job of writing code. James Sanier’s book attempts to provide one of the few guides in this domain.

This book’s intended audience certainly lies on the side of those beginning with managerial tasks. In concept, it provides a comprehensive overview for the first year in the new role. Choosing to provide quick tutorials, it avoids going into details on specific topics. At times, it makes generalizations for the sake of simplicity and brevity, like when it describes simple career tracks. Those who already have advanced knowledge might find these simplifications a bit trite, but beginners will appreciate the sensitivity for orienting newbies.

The book is relatively non-technical in that it fundamentally describes people-oriented tasks instead of, say, financial approaches that involve algorithms. It tends to divide programmers into sociological categories, like a cathedral constructor versus a bazaar browser. Again, these distinctions help, especially at the beginning, but they don’t provide a ton of nuance.

The writing style is accessible to general readers, and endnotes are provided for further research. Not many IT-specific terms are used, but prior exposure to a team that produces software is assumed. I took away a couple of new concepts, such as a mentorship matrix and the Dunning-Kruger effect, but I will explore these in more detail through other writings since only overviews were provided here. This approach fits very much in line with what I’ve come to expect from the Pragmatic Programmer series. It helpfully fills a niche for people who want a non-theoretical approach to learning programming, a unique approach that’s both useful and needed.… (meer)