Get introduced to the fascinating world inhabited by the professional software developer. Aimed
at a non-technical audience this book aims to de-obfuscate the jargon explain the various
activities that coders undertake and analyze the specific pressures priorities and
preoccupations that developers are prone to. In each case it offers pragmatic advice on how to
use this knowledge to make effective business decisions and work productively with software
teams. Software projects are all too often utter nightmares for everyone involved. Depending
on which study you read between 60 and 90 percent of all software projects are completed late
run over budget or deliver an inferior quality end product. This blight affects everyone from
large organizations trying to roll out business change to tiny startups desperately trying to
launch their MVP before the money runs out. While there has been much attention devoted to
understanding these failings leading to the development of entire management methodologies
aimed at reducing the failure rate such new processes have had at best limited success in
delivering better results. Based on a decade spent exploring the world of software Patrick
Gleeson argues that the underlying reason for the high failure rate of software projects is
that software development being a deeply arcane and idiosyncratic process tends to be
thoroughly and disastrously misunderstood by managers and leaders. So long as the people tasked
with making decisions about software projects are unaware of these idiosyncrasies and their
ramifications software projects will be delivered late software products will be unfit for
purpose and relations between software developers and their non-technical colleagues will be
strained. Even the most potent modern management tools are ineffective when wielded blindly. To
anyone who employs contracts manages or works with software developers Working with Coders:
A Guide to Software Development for the Perplexed Non-Techie delivers the understanding
necessary to reduce friction and inefficiencies at the intersection between software
development teams and their non-technical colleagues. What You'll Learn Discover why software
projects are so commonly delivered late and with an abysmal end product Examine why the
relationship between coders and their non-technical colleagues is often strained Understand how
the software development process works and how to support it effectively Decipher and use the
jargon of software development Keep a team of coders happy and improve the odds of successful
software project delivery Who This Book Is For Anyone who employs contracts or manages
software developers-such as tech startup CEOs project managers and clients of digital
agencies-and wishes the relationship were easier and more productive. The secondary readership
is software developers who want to find ways of working more effectively as part of a team.
