Inspired by Jerry Weinberg's web-based roundtable on software engineering and management - the SHAPE forum, for Software as a Human Activity Performed Effectively - the editors reviewed thousands of postings and culled the most powerful, provocative points of debate.

Reading this fast-paced dialogue among three dozen experts, software professionals will quickly benefit from the contributors' many years of combined experience.

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Reviewed by Mark Sheehan in Educause Quarterly.

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm01414.pdf

Which would you rather do, read another self-styled expert's book about project management or listen to several dozen experienced, articulate professionals discuss the topic? We all learn differently, of course. While I'll be among the last to abandon single-author books as pedagogic resources, I admit being thoroughly fascinated by Roundtable on Project Management, whose dialogue format is very different from the traditional didactic monologue.

Jerry Weinberg is a prolific author of books about consulting, project management, "systems thinking," and related topics. In this latest effort, Weinberg and co-editors James Bullock and Marie Benesh have adapted material from a subscription-only e-mail forum into a well-organized, deftly edited, fast-paced discussion that brings new perspectives to a well-worn topic.

The experts taking part in the discussion are all from the software development arena. Most are managers or executives; some are independent practitioners or consultants; others are from corporations large and small. Unfortunately for EDUCAUSE Quarterly readers, none is from academia. Nevertheless, I found most of the issues discussed in the book entirely relevant to the software development projects taking place at my university.

The first half of Roundtable on Project Management discusses getting projects started off on the right foot. The contributors discuss sizing, estimating, planning, and managing a project. This section is rich with lists of techniques, processes, and questions to ask at various stages in a project. The second half of the book deals with patterns in the decline and fall of unsuccessful projects. It offers a number of mechanical metaphors for project failure (most involving the steamship Titanic) and seems to focus more on accepting than on transforming a failing project.

Overall, the style of the discussion is Socratic: questions outnumber answers, and no one appears to believe there is a one-size-fits-all truth to be illuminated. The delight of this book is the variety of viewpoints it expresses. No single expert's point of view dominates; thus, any reader is likely find what he or she needs. I saw myself -- and my colleagues -- in many of the examples cited by the contributors, and I saw us from angles I'd never imagined before.

Reading Roundtable on Project Management is like lurking on the edges of a well-moderated, learned listserv. Whatever shape your projects are in, you will find voices in it that resonate. I hope the book's engaging, innovative style will inspire similar books on other topics more directly relevant to information technology in higher education.

by Beth Anderson   

http://www.stickyminds.com/r.asp?F=DBOOK_459

email: [email protected]

This book is exactly what its subtitle says, "A SHAPE Forum Dialog." Following a biography of each of the contributors to the dialog, the preface gives a description of the SHAPE Forum (Software as a Human Activity Performed Effectively) and emphasizes the community of SHAPE. This is a rather elite group of people with an abundance of experience in all areas of software development.

The remainder of the book is extracted directly from SHAPE forum threads. It is well organized into short chapters, making this an easy read. Each chapter begins with a brief explanation of and introduction to the thread. This is followed by the actual dialog, separated into individual posts. Each chapter concludes with a brief "Lessons" section in which James Bullock and others outline the lessons that can be learned from the situations discussed. Much of the discussion uses "The Story of the Failed Success" as an example. This project is introduced in the first chapter and is referenced often throughout the book. Many of the common issues surrounding project management are discussed.

Generally, project management books I've seen are more likely to lump people in with other "resources." Refreshingly, in this book there is much dialog surrounding people and the effect they have on a project, as well as the affect the project has on its people. The final two chapters give practical advice concerning general lessons learned, first directly related to projects, and finally lessons to be learned about ourselves as people managing projects.

I found this book fascinating. The concept of "listening" to conversations between some highly respected individuals in the IT and Software QA fields was appealing. The biographies at the beginning of the book were intriguing in and of themselves. While I wouldn't consider it a textbook on project management, it does contain practical advice and interesting concepts. One of my favorites is the concept of reacting in conventional or historically correct ways to unconventional situations or new technological issues, using the Titanic as an example. The Titanic sunk because the captain reacted in a way that was appropriate for most ships, but not for the new designs used for that particular ship. This is a problem managers of all types of projects have faced, perhaps since the beginning of time.

While my focus has always been on SQA, I've managed my share of projects and have experienced many of the same frustrations and pitfalls discussed in the book. I especially appreciated the people-focused angle of the discussions. This group is aware that people are much more than just another resource. The passions and personalities of the team members have an incredible impact on a project. The project manager needs to try to use these to the project's advantage.

The subject of testing comes up several times in the book, though it isn't the main focus. Of course with contributors such as James Bach, Danny Faught, and Elisabeth Hendrickson, I wasn't concerned that this topic would be ignored. I may not recommend this book to someone new to the field, but it was captivating to this seasoned veteran.

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