Rating: 
Summary: Superior book on software productivity
Review: This is an entertaining as well as insightful book on software productivity. The use of the "programming wars" to provide actual data on the effect of the environment was particularly interesting. It's too bad more software managers don't heed the advice in this book.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for all project managers.
Review: Peopleware, by DeMarco and Lister is an extremely eye opening book. It captures the quirky problems of every development team in every organization. It is a book written for team leaders and project managers by long-time consultants that have seen it all. It was amazing to hear them speak to many things that I can relate to within my own organization. I found myself nodding and laughing along at many of the problems that I have faced in the past, and it made me feel not so alone in my struggles and endeavors.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is one of the best management books I've read; written in a software development context, but its principles can apply to any of the more "thought-oriented" professions. The book has also started me on some interesting reading tangents, based on some of the sources. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in success, whether they happen to be managers or not.
Rating: 
Summary: Breezy and simplistic, but often hits the mark
Review: This book is written by consultants for managers,
rather than by programmers for programmers, but
is a good read nonetheless. De Marco and Lister
are definitely suits, but have clearly seen a lot
of software projects succeed and fail. The best
bit of the book is their statement that, while
they can't make up a list of things that guarantee
success, it's easy to make a list of things that
will guarantee failure (and it's a rare project
that doesn't score at least 50% against that
list). It's small enough to be read in a single
cross-country flight, and they write well enough
to make that reading enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Best-Selling Authors Reveal Productivity's Best-Kept Secret!
Review: Get action-oriented advice for creating a healthy and productive work environment from two of the computer industry's best-selling authors and lecturers. With anecdotes and numerous examples, DeMarco and Lister tell exactly what managers can do to overcome the major problems of work -- problems that are human, not technical. The critical ingredient of a successful company or project is good human interactions, and Peopleware gives you real answers to people problems!
Rating:
Summary: Insight every manger needs!
Review: Manage effectively! This book clearly identifies the common pitfalls many technical managers fall into today. Very fast read with invaluable information -- if you do not have time to read many books this one is a must
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book.
Review: This book belongs on every manager's shelf. DeMarco makes
sense, with clear, easy to understand, entertaining writing.
He doesn't waste your time. It's all good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I recommend this book to anyone involved in software development, office design, or management of knowledge workers.
A very easy read for both techies and non-techies alike. Programmers and engineers will be nodding their heads in agreement.
One of the few books that deals with work-space and the impact it has on productivity (statistics are included). It also deals with the management of skills within the software development group, with approaches to handling the varied skills found in the team.
Give it to your boss, your CEO, your CIO, and your technical staff.
Rating:
Summary: You gotta have it.
Review: The title says it all: the primary problems in software
development are socialogical and not technological.
It's fun to read it, too.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for software leaders
Review: In his 25th Anniversary Edition of "Mythical Man-Month", Fred Brooks points to PeopleWare as the influential IS book of the 1980's, and says that it was influential for the same reason MMM was: The primary challenges of software development are social, not technical. Companies that forget this are setting themselves up for failure. If you've seen dilbert style software "management" and want to find a better way, I can't recommend this book more strongly. If you read it, you'll want to find a way to get your superiors to read it as well. In my experience, a great deal of so-called "management" is really shoft-term optimization: "IF we can eliminate X benefit we can save $Y per year!" and cost control. DeMarco and Lister point out that the real goal is productivity, and suggest numerous ways to treat employees as people to get increased productivity, as opposed to treating them as inhuman "Resources" and managing by spreadsheet. One story from the book: In my early years as a developer, I was privileged to work on a project managed by Sharon Weinberg, now president of the Codd and Date Consulting Group. She was a walking example of much of what I now think of as enlightened management. One snowy day, I dragged msyelf out of a sickbed to pull together our shaky system for a user demo. Sharon came in and found me propped up at a console. She disappeared and came back a few minutes later with a container of soup. After she'd poured it into me and buoued up my spirits, I asked her hwo she found time to for such things with all the management work she had to do. She game me her patented grin and said "Tim, this _IS_ management!" - TDM This book is all about the manager's role: Not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work. How to do that, how teams jell, etc. It's a pleasure to read and it's ... right. And in a field full of false promises, snake oil, and worthless statistics, that's saying something.
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