Andrew Johnston's Publications

A Hacker's Guide to Project Management

Find out what's new in the second edition.

Managing a software development project is a complex process. There are lots of deliverables to produce, standards and procedures to observe, plans and budgets to meet, and different people to manage or report to. Project management doesn’t just start and end with designing and building the system. Once you’ve specified, designed and built (or bought) the system it still needs to be properly tested, documented and settled into the live environment. This can seem like a maze to the inexperienced project manager, or even to the experienced project manager unused to a particular environment.

A Hacker's Guide to Project Management acts as a guide through this maze. It’s aimed specifically at those managing a project or leading a team for the first time, but it will also help more experienced managers who are either new to software development, or dealing with a new part of the software life-cycle. My book:

Describes the process of software development, how projects can fail and how to avoid those failures,
Outlines the key skills of a good project manager, and provides practical advice on how to gain and deploy those skills,
Takes the reader step-by-step through the main stages of the project, explaining what must be done, and what must be avoided at each stage,
Explains the importance of good analysis, design and architecture, and provides you with some guidance on how to get these right,
Suggests what to do if things start to go wrong!

The book is illustrated throughout with great cartoons by Sarah Ward and Helen Floate. It's short (218 pages), snappy and easy to read, and I hope will leave you keen to get on with it.

If you're interested, you can:

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Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

 

The book was published in 1995 by Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP. The second edition was published in 2003. ISBN: 0750657464