Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams

January 2, 2008 @ 2:42 | In Books, Programming | | del.icio.us digg devbump rss
Peopleware book image

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
Author: Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister
Pages: 245
Published: 1999

Peopleware is the second edition of a classic book (I have not read it, but jumped directly to this one). It is a book about software teams written by two software consultants experts although probably all the stories may be applied to other engineering areas. Do not expect technical comments in this book as this is about people and teams. It is structured in six parts where the last has been added into the second edition. Each part includes a series of short essays. Why most problems are not so much technological as sociological, why you must not save money on space for your team, why a good programmer (the right people) can give you a 10x factor productivity against a normal programmer, why you should make teams jell at your company and why you should avoid teamicide are an example of the topics covered in this book.

Although the first edition was written almost two decades ago, all commentaries are still valid. You will be able to identify with many of the situations described. I specially like the chapter about the workplace quality and the importance of not breaking concentration moments (the flow state). The additional chapter, Son of Peopleware, is written with another perspective. It is not surprising given that it had been written ten years later. Instead of concentrating in the design of projects and the environment it is focused in the design of an entire organization that creates teams with aligned goals. The last chapter, The Making of Community, is my favorite. This quote particularly strikes a chord: “An organization that succeeds in building a satisfying community tends to keep its people.”. I have yet to find find a company where this rule is being applied, but I shall continue my search. :)

This book plus The Mythical Man-Month are my two preferred classic books. What are you waiting for? Read them.

Rating: 9 / 10




  1. Un tocho más :)



    Comment by Zalo
    January 3, 2008 @ 9:50 #

  2. Google seems to have that satisfying community… or at least, thats the image they have. You should try that :)

    And what about a small group? (like an indie developer company)

    Seems like a nice book to read on the bed, I’ll check it.



    Comment by Miguel Herrero
    January 10, 2008 @ 9:47 #


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