Roundtable on Technical Leadership

by Weinberg, Gerald M.; Benesh, Marie; Bullock, James

• ISBN13: 9780932633514
• ISBN10: 093263351X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Dorset House

Summary

Joined by coeditors Marie Benesh and James Bullock, consultant, Gerald M. Weinberg highlights forty experts' secrets for building and sustaining a leadership role in software development. Softcover.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xi
Preface	xxv
Series Preface	xxvii
Introduction	1	(1)
The Threads	1	(4)
Tricks That Ignore Those Who Come After	5	(14)
The Thread	6	(1)
Hard-Coding Information That Will Change in the Future	6	(1)
Failing to Clean Up Temporary Code	7	(1)
Making Comments Impossible to Ignore	8	(1)
Overloading the Value of an Identifier	9	(1)
Overloading the Mind of the Writer or the Reader	10	(1)
Creating Cryptic or Cute Variable Names	11	(1)
Using One Argument to Change the Meaning of Another	11	(1)
Naming with Too Much (or Too Little) English	12	(1)
Casting Types: Smart or Stupid?	13	(1)
Building Monolithic Code	14	(2)
Disregarding the Difficulty of Maintenance	16	(2)
Lessons	18	(1)
Tricks That Destroy Portability	19	(15)
The Thread	20	(1)
Embedding Machine Dependencies in What Looks Like Portable Code	20	(1)
Depending on the Permanence of Message Texts	21	(1)
Inventing Your Own Programming Language	22	(1)
Depending on Internal Compiler Details	23	(1)
Using Half-Significant Things That Could Become Significant	24	(3)
Arbitrarily Limiting a Tool's Capacity	27	(1)
Optimizing for Something You've Got Lots Of	27	(1)
Ignoring Compiler Warnings	28	(1)
Lacking-or Ignoring-Information from the Compiler	29	(2)
Depending on the Compiler to Be Consistent Across Environments	31	(1)
Not Imposing Controls Over the Installation Process	32	(1)
Lessons	33	(1)
Stupid Design Tricks	34	(14)
The Thread	35	(1)
Failing to Design Your Program Before You Code It	35	(2)
Failing to Consider at Least Three Design Alternatives	37	(1)
Making It Overly Complex	37	(2)
Designing Without Thinking	39	(2)
Missing the Key Driver of Risk	41	(1)
Being Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish on Moral Grounds	41	(1)
Failing to Think in Terms of Trade-Offs	42	(1)
Binding Too Early or Too Late	43	(2)
Writing a Program When No Program Is Needed	45	(2)
Lessons	47	(1)
Stupid Design Document Tricks	48	(13)
The Thread	49	(1)
Leaving No Design Artifacts and No Garbage	49	(2)
Mistaking Documents for Documentation	51	(1)
Coding from the Wrong Type of Document	52	(1)
Mistaking Documents for the Design	53	(1)
Failing to Design Your Documents	54	(1)
Simple for the Programmer; Incomprehensible to the User	55	(2)
Thinking I'll be Gone By Then	57	(3)
Lessons	60	(1)
Tricks Arising From Social Inadequacy	61	(15)
The Thread	62	(1)
Career Development Through Co-Dependency	62	(1)
Using Technical Tricks to Avoid Social Situations	62	(1)
Not Documenting Your Assumptions	63	(1)
Not Asking for Help	64	(1)
Preventing Others from Learning by Being Impatient	65	(1)
Failing to Notice Your Fault Feedback Ratio and to Do Something About It	66	(1)
Not Documenting Why Choices Were Made	66	(1)
Lack of Feedback Doesn't Necessarily Mean the Code Was Good	67	(1)
Let Your Tools Do Their Work	68	(1)
Keeping in the Stuff That's Corrected by Other Stuff	69	(2)
Replacing One Big Mess with an Unending Series of Small Messes	71	(2)
Give a Fresh Start When Needed	73	(1)
Failing to Use Your Own Product	73	(2)
Lessons	75	(1)
Experts and Gurus as Leaders	76	(12)
The Thread	77	(1)
``Guru'' As a Degrading Term	77	(2)
Not Labeling but Hypothesizing	79	(1)
Be an Expert Who Can Teach Expertness	79	(1)
Be Recognized by Other Gurus as a Guru	80	(1)
Transcend the Realities Others Live In	81	(1)
Know the Difference Between the Map and the Territory	82	(2)
Be Content to Be Content	84	(1)
Be Accessible and Humble	84	(1)
Be Emotional	85	(2)
Lessons	87	(1)
The Leader as Learner	88	(9)
The Thread	89	(1)
Learn at a High Level	89	(1)
Be Both Inventive and Traditional	90	(1)
Immerse Yourself in a Virtuous Learning Cycle	90	(1)
Have Personal Experience	91	(1)
Be Self Aware	92	(1)
Be Able to Communicate Your Expertise	93	(1)
Be a Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment	94	(1)
Do Not Need to Be Omnipotent	95	(1)
Remember That There Are Some Things Even a Guru Can't Do	95	(1)
Lessons	96	(1)
The Expert as Teacher	97	(19)
The Thread	98	(1)
Provide More Choices	98	(1)
Provide Distinctions	98	(1)
Let Them Experience Their Own Experience	99	(1)
Provide a Discovery Trail	100	(1)
Don't Confuse Beginners	101	(2)
Be Up-Front with Oversimplification	103	(1)
Select Students	103	(2)
Engage Each Learner	105	(1)
Connect with the Learners Where They Are	106	(2)
Teach on a Pay as You Go Plan	108	(2)
Provide the Questions Not the Answers	110	(2)
Have a Sense of Timing	112	(2)
Help People Discover What They Already Know	114	(1)
Lessons	115	(1)
The Courage to Teach in Any Direction	116	(12)
The Thread	117	(1)
Give Your Boss Some Credit	117	(2)
Balance Self Worth and Safety	119	(1)
Luck Is Always a Factor (Especially If You Help)	120	(1)
Don't Confuse Courageous with Dumb	121	(2)
Is What You're Getting Worth What You're Paying?	123	(1)
Plant a Seed; Cultivate; Be Patient	124	(2)
See Them as Human Beings	126	(1)
Lessons	127	(1)
The Courage to Be Yourself	128	(11)
The Thread	129	(1)
Don't Try to Be a Generation Younger	130	(2)
Dress to Make Both of You Comfortable	132	(1)
By and Large They'll Have to Resolve Their Own Chaos	132	(1)
If It's Not a Good Pit Don't Do It	133	(2)
Adapt in Order to Communicate	135	(1)
Is It the Hair or is It the Arrogance?	135	(1)
Who You Are Is More Important Than What You Wear	136	(1)
Lessons	137	(2)
Bibliography	139	(2)
Index	141