You hold in your hands a comprehensive guide to creating a flourishing software development practice one that makes a powerful impact with the software it builds. This guide describes the unique aspects of creating software-based products. It also lays out the clear practical guidance thats necessary to construct and evolve a modern practice. This includes hiring, structuring teams properly, writing good code, leveraging test-driven development, designing architecture, automating development processes with DevOps techniques, and importantly leading teams through the disruptive change that each of these can represent. Further, the first principles upon which these practices rest will be elaborated so that the reader can readily adapt the already practical techniques to the broadest possible set of real-world situations.
This guide describes the unique aspects of creating software-based products. It also lays out the clear practical guidance thats necessary to construct and evolve a modern practice.
1. Introduction
Section I Groundwork
2. The Problem
3. Ways of Knowing
4. The Two Systems
Section II Leading Software Development
5. Leadership
6. Building the People and Technology System
7. Principles
8. Tactical Competence
Section III Areas of Competence
9. Areas of Competence: Overview
10. Areas of Competence: Craftsmanship
11. Areas of Competence: People and Process
12. Areas of Competence: Architecture
13. Areas of Competence: Workflow Automation
Section IV Bringing It All Together
14. Starting the New Development Shop
15. Enhancing the Existing Development Shop
16. Scaling the Small Development Shop
17. Simplification: Continuously Starting, Enhancing, and Scaling
18. A Complete Mental Model For the Engineering Organization
Index
Kyle Rowland brings an incredibly rich and diverse base of experience to TechMentor and its clients. He has spent more than 20 years delivering software solutions across a broad set of industries from Defense Department to Financial Services, from Telecommunications to Big Data Analytics, and just about everything in between. Leading and building across such a broad set of problem domains and team approaches have given him both an uncommon depth of technical expertise and a unique perspective into the generalized problems that plague all of software development. More importantly though, its given him a solid grasp of the fundamental principles and techniques that underpin the most powerful and effective solutions to these problems solutions hes personally used to lead organizations from near stand-still to highly productive. Most importantly, Kyle has a deep-seated passion to move you and your organization to the next level believing thoroughly that disciplined, small steps in the right direction change people, that change organizations, that change the world.
