Review of Software Leadership

by Billy Barron, Tek-Tools

"Software Leadership: A Guide to Successful Software Development" (Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0-201-70044-1) by Murray Cantor is a book for upper level software managers. It covers what managers should do to build and run effective teams.

I won't go through and detail the material in the book. I recommend this book with a couple of caveats. It is easy to read and full of good information.

The book should have a warning that it contains Rational's official view on the world. For example, the book implies that if you use UML, there will not be misunderstanding of diagrams. Sorry, guys, it happens all the time with UML. UML is good but don't oversell it. The other is that it pretty much says that RUP is the only valid process. There is an appendix where they trash several other processes though it doesn't take XP into accounts though I personally suspect it was considered as a rapid prototyping methodology.