Mastering the Complex World of Software Management

You were a happy coder, then the opportunity came to lead a team. Unfamiliar assignments come without warning, team members need care and attention, and then the organization demands that you take on roles you hadn't prepared for and work with people whom you have no idea what they do. It's a struggle to keep up and often feels like thrashing rather than success.

And yet, you are the lynchpin. Software Managers are responsible for critical product delivery and information processing in the largest and most impactful global companies and across nearly every industry and public sector. Some of the fundamentals like project management and team leadership have been well documented but the world keeps getting more complicated.

This book reveals the breadth of domains that a Software Manager will encounter as they progress from competent contributor to tech lead to manager to increasing levels of responsibility. Even experienced managers will find helpful new perspectives and insights. You will be challenged to think more deeply about the people you may manage, the processes of developing products so complex that no individual can keep it all in their head, and the often-mysterious organizational behaviors surrounding you.

Tech companies don't have to throw good practitioners into hard management positions with no training and compound the error as people advance in their management careers; it has just been our habit. We can do better. Mastering the Complex World of Software Management provides realistic scope, attacks the nitty-gritty realities, and challenges the reader to think about their situation so they can solve the myriad technical, process, organizational, and business challenges coming their way.

What You Will Learn

• Master the fundamentals of managing technology teams
• See how operating teams navigate themselves within a larger organization
• Understand and work around the landmines in software development

Who This Book is For

Software developers who are considering a management path for their career; senior tech leads that are responsible for much of a software team's operation; software development managers that want to improve their capabilities in order to take on more responsibilities and earn a promotion.