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A breakthrough model for understanding software development-- and breakthrough techniques for improving it!

You can't improve the way you develop software if you don't understand it. Journey of the Software Professional offers the first complete model of software development--based on the newest research in cognitive psychology and organizational behavior. But that's just the beginning. At its heart, this is a book of practical advice for developers and managers who are serious about enhancing their own effectiveness, and the effectiveness of their teams.

This book transcends the boring, self-evident advice you've heard a thousand times before, with fresh insights into:

• Choosing the best work environment for your personality and workstyle
• Building on your personal and management strengths, and avoiding common errors
• Finding better ways to approach individual and team problem-solving
• Creating a better team culture
• Improving communication effectiveness
• Managing both technological and organizational change

Crammed with advice for both developers and managers, Journey of the Software Professional covers an extraordinary range of topics--and presents them through a coherent Structure-Process-Outcome framework that helps you make sense of your own experience.

You'll discover tools and techniques for building and implementing your own career development plan. You'll learn the concepts underlying well-designed system architectures and how to apply these concepts to create an architecture appropriate for your project. At the same time, you'll learn how to create organizational structures that support this architecture and manage the growth of the team over the life of the project. You'll learn how to develop long-term strategies for improving your organization's software development. And a whole lot more.

No matter what role you play in software development, or where you are in your career, this book represents a breakthrough in understanding what you're doing -- and how to do it better!

"In many ways, it opened my eyes. If you are a software professional, I think it will open yours as well." --Gerald M. Weinberg

A comprehensive guide to the software development process that will help software developers at every stage of their career: improving personal performance, learning to work well in a team, and managing to create an environment where others can be most effective. Addresses the psychological and sociological aspects of software development, presenting a thorough model of individual and collective software problem-solving behavior, and practical techniques for enhancing the process. Covers the structures, processes and outcomes common to most software development projects, and how to improve them. Presents ideas on using tools and training more effectively, and on improving the performance of teams. Shows how to build on your personal and management successes, and avoid the most common errors. Programmers, developers, software managers, students, and anyone involved in the software creation process.