Meeting the Needs of Software Developers

Ken Whitaker of Leading Software Maniacs (LSM) has more than 25 years of software development executive leadership and training experience in a variety of technology roles and industries. He has led commercial software teams at Software Publishing (remember Harvard Graphics?), Data General, embedded systems software companies, and enterprise software suppliers. Ken is an active PMI member, Project Management Professional (PMP) certified, and a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM). Sources for LSM's material come from case studies, personal leadership experience, the PMI Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) and Ken's leadership books: Managing Software Maniacs, Principles of Software Development Leadership and I'm Not God, I'm Just a Project Manager.

  Agile   Applications Delivery   Communications Management   Information Technology   Scrum   Talent Management  

Using extreme project management tips and techniques will only be successful if you know how to effectively and consistently manage the human element. This is particularly difficult when dealing with creative types: graphics animators, Web designers and software developers. Although some of the best

practices in this document can apply to anyone, I’ll focus on software developers. The key ingredient of software development leadership success can be represented as a balance of planning, process and people leadership in order to produce quality products. The following diagram is an attempt to show this relationship between the three leadership roles you must perform:

Successful projects require balancing planning, process and people

When it comes to people leadership, there are a few simple things that you can do to reduce attrition or de-motivation--both key risks that are under your control to mitigate.

Background
Most of us in leadership positions want to be sure that our teams are satisfied with the operation of their department and have a clear focus of what is expected of them to do. Since there are only so many hours in a workday, you may find that planning and process activities take a back seat to the constant stream of project and people-related activities including:

• Making sure that developers get the best assignments and that …

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