Tom DeMarco

Tim Lister

Few books in computing have had as profound an influence on software management as Peopleware . The unique insight of this longtime best seller is that the major issues of software development are human, not technical. They’re not easy issues; but solve them, and you’ll maximize your chances of success. “Peopleware has long been one of my two favorite books on software engineering. Its underlying strength is its base of immense real experience, much of it quantified. Many, many varied projects have been reflected on and distilled; but what we are given is not just lifeless distillate, but vivid examples from which we share the authors’ inductions. Their premise is right: most software project problems are sociological, not technological. The insights on team jelling and work environment have changed my thinking and teaching. The third edition adds strength to strength.” — Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Kenan Professor of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Author of The Mythical Man-Month and The Design of Design “Peopleware is the one book that everyone who runs a software team needs to read and reread once a year. In the quarter century since the first edition appeared, it has become more important, not less, to think about the social and human issues in software develop¿ment. This is the only way we’re going to make more humane, productive workplaces. Buy it, read it, and keep a stock on hand in the office supply closet.” —Joel Spolsky, Co-founder, Stack Overflow “When a book about a field as volatile as software design and use extends to a third edition, you can be sure that the authors write of deep principle, of the fundamental causes for what we readers experience, and not of the surface that everyone recognizes. And to bring people, actual human beings, into the mix! How excellent. How rare. The authors have made this third edition, with its additions, entirely terrific.” —Lee Devin and Rob Austin, Co-authors of The Soul of Design and Artful Making For this third edition, the authors have added six new chapters and updated the text throughout, bringing it in line with today’s development environments and challenges. For example, the book now discusses pathologies of leadership that hadn’t previously been judged to be pathological; an evolving culture of meetings; hybrid teams made up of people from seemingly incompatible generations; and a growing awareness that some of our most common tools are more like anchors than propellers. Anyone who needs to manage a software project or software organization will find invaluable advice throughout the book.

Productive Projects and Teams

Peopleware

James Robertson

Steve McMenamin

Suzanne Robertson

Peter Hruschka

This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright © 2008). Adrenaline junkies, dead fish, project sluts, true believers, Lewis and Clark, template zombies . . . Most developers, testers, and managers on IT projects are pretty good at recognizing patterns of behavior and gut-level hunches, as in, “I sense that this project is headed for disaster.” But it has always been more difficult to transform these patterns and hunches into a usable form, something a team can debate, refine, and use. Until now. In Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies, the six principal consultants of The Atlantic Systems Guild present the patterns of behavior they most often observe at the dozens of IT firms they transform each year, around the world. The result is a quick-read guide to identifying nearly ninety typical scenarios, drawing on a combined one-hundred-and-fifty years of project management experience. Project by project, you’ll improve the accuracy of your hunches and your ability to act on them. The patterns are presented in an easy-reference format, with names designed to ease communication with your teammates. In just a few words, you can describe what’s happening on your project. Citing the patterns of behavior can help you quickly move those above and below you to the next step on your project. You’ll find classic patterns such as these: News Improvement Management by Mood Ring Piling On Rattle Yer Dags Natural Authority Food++ Fridge Door and more than eighty more! Not every pattern will be evident in your organization, and not every pattern is necessarily good or bad. However, you’ll find many patterns that will apply to your current and future assignments, even in the most ambiguous circumstances. When you assess your situation and follow your next hunch, you'll have the collective wisdom of six world-class consultants at your side.

Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior

Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies

This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright © 2003). If There’s No Risk On Your Next Project, Don’t Do It. Greater risk brings greater reward, especially in software development. A company that runs away from risk will soon find itself lagging behind its more adventurous competition. By ignoring the threat of negative outcomes–in the name of positive thinking or a can-do attitude–software managers drive their organizations into the ground. In Waltzing with Bears, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister–the best-selling authors of Peopleware–show readers how to identify and embrace worthwhile risks. Developers are then set free to push the limits. The authors present the benefits of risk management, including that it makes aggressive risk-taking possible, protects management from getting blindsided, provides minimum-cost downside protection, reveals invisible transfers of responsibility, isolates the failure of a subproject. Readers are armed with strategies for confronting the most common risks that software projects face: schedule flaws, requirements inflation, turnover, specification breakdown, and under-performance. Waltzing with Bears will help you mitigate the risks–before they turn into project-killing problems. Risks are out there–and they should be there–but there is a way to manage them.

Managing Risk on Software Projects

Waltzing with Bears

Paul Cruickshank

Aimen Dean

As one of al-Qaeda’s most respected bomb-makers, Aimen Dean rubbed shoulders with the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden. As a double agent at the heart of al-Qaeda’s chemical weapons programme, he foiled attacks on civilians and saved countless lives, brushing with death so often that his handlers began to call him their spy with nine lives. This is the story of how a young Muslim, determined to defend his faith, found himself fighting on the wrong side – and his fateful decision to work undercover for his sworn enemy. From the killing fields of Bosnia to the training camps of Afghanistan, from running money and equipment in Britain to dodging barrel bombs in Syria, we discover what life is like inside the global jihad, and what it will take to stop it once and for all.

My Time As MI6's Top Spy Inside al-Qaeda

Nine Lives

Morten Storm

Agent Storm - My Life Inside al-Qaeda by Morten Storm Morten Storm was an unlikely Jihadist. A 6'1" red-haired Dane, Storm spent his teens with a biker gang or in jail. But after converting to Islam he embarked on a transformation that led from a militant madrassa in Yemen to a close friendship with Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric who would emerge as al-Qaeda's greatest threat to the West. Then Storm's story took another dramatic twist. He lost his faith and was recruited by the CIA, MI6 and MI5, becoming a double agent. His ultimate mission: to bring down his mentor al-Awlaki. This is the searing memoir of a man who sought purpose in a community of believers before rejecting their extremist ideology. In a quest for atonement he lived undercover for five years, travelling the world to complete high profile missions. As well as single-handedly thwarting multiple terrorist attacks, he led the intelligence services to some of al-Qaeda's most dangerous terrorists, all the while knowing his own life was expendable. Agent Storm takes readers inside the Jihadist world like never before, showing the daily life of zealous men set on mass murder: from dodging drones with al-Qaeda leaders in the Arabian desert to Jihadist gyms in Birmingham. It also gives a rare look inside the world's most powerful spy agencies, including their tradecraft, after-hours carousing - and their ruthless use of a beautiful blonde in a honey trap. Filled with hair-raising close calls, coded messages and chilling duplicity, Agent Storm is a captivating real-life thriller.

My Life Inside al-Qaeda

Agent Storm

He was the Western convert who would plunge deep inside al-Qaeda. He named his first son Osama after 9/11 and became a Jihadist. But then - after a sudden loss of faith - Morten Storm made a life-changing decision. He became a double agent for the CIA, MI6 and MI5. Filled with hair-raising close calls and duplicity, Storm's story builds to the climactic finale when he must betray his friend and mentor al-Awlaki - al-Qaeda's biggest threat to the West. Storm is trusted to find al-Awlaki a wife from Europe. She becomes the bait for a possible American drone strike . . . 'Brother, let's go, just me and you, and do this mission. I need you to be there with me.' 'I'm with you, brother,' I replied, feeling the words sounded less than convincing. He embraced me. 'This is the best, Murad, the best. We get to be shuhada [martyrs]. There's nothing better than this, remember that.' 'I know. This is paradise. We are mujahideen and this is what we fight for,' I replied, summoning all the conviction I could manage. He wants me to die with him, I thought. How am I going to get out of this? 'A spy-thriller written in spy-thriller prose. . . There are not others [books] in which the main protagonist has also played such an extensive role for western security services, and, more crucially, is prepared to reveal so much.' Jason Burke, Guardian 'A rollicking read and a rare insider's account of Western spying in the age of al-Qaeda, where the risk if exposed is not Cold War-style expulsion but gruesome execution.' New York Times 'Reads like a first-rate spy thriller, but it is in fact a stunning and true inside account of the workings, personalities and mindsets of the leaders and operatives of al-Qaeda . . . indispensable.' Washington Times 'You couldn't make it up . . . Agent Storm couldn't really be less like Bond.' Christina Lamb, Sunday Times 'This book reads like a screenplay for a James Bond movie written by Joel and Ethan Coen. Storm's story has such immediacy that it seems to have leapt from yesterday's headlines.' Washington Post 'The most detailed, compelling, and human look at modern espionage in the lethal world of jihadist terrorism that we are likely to get. Truly gripping.' Mark Stout, former CIA officer and Director, Global Security Studies, Johns Hopkins University 'An astonishing and unknown tale of the exploits, change of allegiances, double crosses and inner workings of al Qaeda terrorist groups and the Western intelligence agencies charged with stopping them. Hard to put down.' Mitch Silber, former Director of Intelligence Analysis at the NYPD and author of The Al Qaeda Factor 'Gripping, nerve-shredding, terrifying.' Daily Mail 'Chilling. Homeland's Sergeant Brody come to life.' GQ

My Life Inside Al Qaeda

The true story of a jihadi convert seeking redemption in “a rollicking read and a rare insider’s account of Western spying in the age of al Qaeda” (The New York Times Book Review). Standing over six feet tall with flaming red hair, Morten Storm was an unlikely jihadi. But after a troubled youth in his native Denmark, Storm found peace and purpose in his conversion to Islam. His absolute devotion only grew after he attended a militant madrasa in Yemen, named his son Osama, and became close friends with American-born terrorist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Then, after a decade of jihadi life, he not only rejected extremism—he began a quest for atonement, becoming a double agent for the CIA as well as British and Danish intelligence agencies. Agent Storm takes readers inside the fanatical jihadist mindset and into the shadows of the world’s most powerful spy agencies in an action-packed account that “reads like a screenplay for a James Bond movie written by Joel and Ethan Coen” (The Washington Post).

Tim Lister

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