Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: "Software for Your Head" has many good ideas about creating positive teams. Unfortunately, the authors wrap them up in a tedious, preachy bundle they call "The Core". "The Core" works because they say it works. It works because there's tons of research to prove it. Only, you never see it. You just have to trust them. If you use "the core", and it doesn't work, then the only possible answer is that you're not correctly using it.The book is an advertisement for their "boot camp". Appendix B contains the material given to people joining the "boot camp". It contains many exhortations to attendees that they shouldn't argue with the staff and to pretend you like what you're doing when you don't like it. And of course, there's plenty of declarations that it works. I visited the web site, and the only evidence they were able to provide is that people after attending the boot camp rate their team improvement 2x to 10x. Not exactly a scientific study. It's difficult to get past the book's preachy style. The "Team Status" for the "check In" section is simply a train wreck of bad writing. A more dispassionate style would have served the book better. While an evangelical style might seem appropriate for getting strangers to bond in a five-day training session, it makes for tiresome reading. That's not to say that there aren't many interesting ideas in this book. The authors try to balance the need for teams to connect with each other with the need for boundary and space (check in and check out). Emotions are inserted into the work place, but are heavily regulated to avoid meltdowns. The desire to break-down artificial boundaries and roles is admirable, and I'm sure some of these techniques work as advertised. However, they require non-trivial emotional change, perhaps too much to be really practical. The book's evangelical style doesn't allow for half-way measures - you're in it either all the way, or not at all. This is a particularly significant weakness, because this book presupposes that one wants to pour every fiber of your being into work. The notion of balance between work and personal life is not considered. If you're giving every bit of yourself at work, chances are you'll have nothing left for your loved ones at home. The second "Team Status" (almost as poorly written as the first) talks about someone spending the whole night bonding with a couple of teammates. Why is this person spending the night with a couple of relative strangers rather than his or her loved ones? He or she ends up getting a divorce, but the software ships on time. Yippie. The book goes on and on about how team members need to be connected to one another. Well, shoot, why not have everyone have sex with each other at check-in? Then they would really be connected. I suspect that the ideas in this book will largely be ignored by the software development community. This will a result of the book's preachy style and the lack of hard statistics. That would be a shame, because there are some interesting things here. But, the McCarthys' have no one else but themselves to blame. You can't be a huckster and be taken seriously at the same time.
Rating: 
Summary: Good ideas in a tiresome package
Review: "Software for Your Head" has many good ideas about creating positive teams. Unfortunately, the authors wrap them up in a tedious, preachy bundle they call "The Core". "The Core" works because they say it works. It works because there's tons of research to prove it. Only, you never see it. You just have to trust them. If you use "the core", and it doesn't work, then the only possible answer is that you're not correctly using it. The book is an advertisement for their "boot camp". Appendix B contains the material given to people joining the "boot camp". It contains many exhortations to attendees that they shouldn't argue with the staff and to pretend you like what you're doing when you don't like it. And of course, there's plenty of declarations that it works. I visited the web site, and the only evidence they were able to provide is that people after attending the boot camp rate their team improvement 2x to 10x. Not exactly a scientific study. It's difficult to get past the book's preachy style. The "Team Status" for the "check In" section is simply a train wreck of bad writing. A more dispassionate style would have served the book better. While an evangelical style might seem appropriate for getting strangers to bond in a five-day training session, it makes for tiresome reading. That's not to say that there aren't many interesting ideas in this book. The authors try to balance the need for teams to connect with each other with the need for boundary and space (check in and check out). Emotions are inserted into the work place, but are heavily regulated to avoid meltdowns. The desire to break-down artificial boundaries and roles is admirable, and I'm sure some of these techniques work as advertised. However, they require non-trivial emotional change, perhaps too much to be really practical. The book's evangelical style doesn't allow for half-way measures - you're in it either all the way, or not at all. This is a particularly significant weakness, because this book presupposes that one wants to pour every fiber of your being into work. The notion of balance between work and personal life is not considered. If you're giving every bit of yourself at work, chances are you'll have nothing left for your loved ones at home. The second "Team Status" (almost as poorly written as the first) talks about someone spending the whole night bonding with a couple of teammates. Why is this person spending the night with a couple of relative strangers rather than his or her loved ones? He or she ends up getting a divorce, but the software ships on time. Yippie. The book goes on and on about how team members need to be connected to one another. Well, shoot, why not have everyone have sex with each other at check-in? Then they would really be connected. I suspect that the ideas in this book will largely be ignored by the software development community. This will a result of the book's preachy style and the lack of hard statistics. That would be a shame, because there are some interesting things here. But, the McCarthys' have no one else but themselves to blame. You can't be a huckster and be taken seriously at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: As a former co-worker of Jim during his tenure in the C++ team at Microsoft, I was exposed to some of his early work, and I think "The Dynamics of Software Development" is a good book. But I think any books that talk about running software teams should be written by people who actually run software teams. That is no longer the case for Jim, and it shows in this book, which is a digression away from practical advice into post-modern psychology. I don't know who this book is supposed to appeal to, but I know that chapters like "Aligning: Transcendent Motive and the Efficacy of Help" don't appeal to a practical software guy like me.
Unlike his earlier DSM, "The Core" approach requires you to accept this approach whole-hog, which I think is unlikely to work with many teams. The psychological approach *may* get you to a fully-functioning team, but I think the approaches of the Agile Methodologies - which are based on team psychology but don't *require* that the team understand it - are likely to be as effective.
The writing in the book is tiresome and pompous. Anybody who thinks the decision to use "he" or "she" warrants a 130 word footnote is more interested in hearing himself talk than explaining something clearly, especially if he uses phrases like "liguistically disenfranchised collegues".
Rating: 
Summary: Psychology as software specifciation
Review: Books like Software For Your Head are rare. These are books that are so important, timely, and lucid that they transcend the subject they speak about. In this case, McCarthy is covering team psychology practices (protocols), patterns that lead to the delivery of great intellectual creative works, and the anti-patterns that destroy such efforts. When I first read this book, I was struck with how silly or unnatural (to me) some of the protocols sounded. Always one eager to subvert the dominant paradigm, I usually feel this a sign that the author's saying something worth listening to. Jim's writing style is so matter-of-fact and direct that it contributed to me chuckling repeatedly thinking, "is this guy nuts?", but at the same time driving me to read further -- for all of which he said resonated with me at a deep level. As you progress through the book, the reasons behind the patterns and protocols become clearer: we live in a world where it is considered ridiculous to express or leverage emotion in the work place, yet emotion is crucial to our nature & to creating works of high value. So -- use a set of practices that legislate the option of using of emotional information in your collaboration. Of even more value to myself is the book's description of the anti-patterns. It took me quite a while to read this work as I've had to put the book down several times after reading the anti patterns, being so overwhelmed by the accuracy of what was being said, based on all the prior situations I've been in where leaders forced the team, or sometimes the whole company, down the path of perdition. I can't think of a more important contribution to software development today. Even the agile methodologies like XP are important developments, but they don't go to as deep a level as this book does. For any software professional or creative team leader, this book comes with my highest recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: 8/10
Review: I give this book eight out of ten.
What I like about it:
The ideas in this book have enormous power. They could (and can) change the way people work with each other for the better.
The book presents the function that team = product. The better the team works together the better the product. This is so obvious and yet gets constantly overlooked.
The patterns and anti patterns of behavior are very well observed and described.
After reading this book the second time I have been to a McCarthy boot camp and the book does an admirable job of describing what is achievable.
I have tried each of the protocols described in this book and I can tell you they rate amongst the best ways I have discovered of helping teams work well together.
The title describes the book well, it takes some time to work this out. It is a clever idea that we can load new software into our brains and therefore become better at doing something - such as interacting with other people (or even ourselves!) In order to get a ten:
It would be easier to read. The book is written too much like a software manual. The McCarthy's previous book - Dynamics of Software Development - was much easier to read and proved to be very popular with the development teams I introduced it to. Software For Your Head requires commitment to read to the end.
The examples would be clearer. Throughout the book are stories which serve as examples of the ideas being presented. I often have to read these a second time to get the full meaning of them. For more of Dr. Neil's reviews go to http://www.Roodyn.com/BookReviews.aspx
Rating:
Summary: The Best Kept Secret in Product Development
Review: I saw Jim speak at a Microsoft Canada Technical Briefing in March of 2000. He talked about patterns and antipatterns. At that time I was a technical consultant/programmer working on a team of twenty to build an online trading simulation. Every single thing he described in that keynote speech was true of our team. I decided I wanted to learn more. It wasn't until I was already signed up for BootCamp that I read Software For Your Head and I found out that it isn't about developing software. It's about developing the most important product, the product from which all other products are developed - the team. It was a tough read, but that was because it challenged so many assumptions, so much received wisdom for my years in large corporations. I was proud of the fact that I was adept at managing my time, understanding interpersonal politics, leading teams, facilitating meetings, leading change, and trying to produce great products instead of mediocre ones. But when I read SFYH I had to stop many times to rethink many of the situations I had been through. I was challenged to find a single one which I could not have handled better and with more positive results had I known and used the protocols properly. Also the sheer number of ideas presented in a single book is quite astounding. I have read the Blanchard books, for instance, which give you only 4-6 ideas in all of 120 pages for $$ Canadian each. SFYH gives you several ideas per page for a whopping 381 pages for just over twice the price - $$ Canadian. It is a disquieting read. Many business books set up a comfortable "we both know this subject is tough (otherwise you wouldn't have bought the book), but I'm on your side and I won't ask too much of you" companionable voice. It's a voice that says, "I know you're going to have a hard time making this work, and I don't really expect you to try." With Software For Your Head the writing is unequivocal. Jim and Michele assume you are a thinking capable, curious, intelligent adult who wants to learn and use that learning to do great things. They have learned from the teams they've observed in BootCamp, and they want to share the best practices of those teams with anyone who will listen. This book is about getting results. I found their challenge quite refreshing. It gave me hope that there really is something I haven't tried yet, and it really could work if I apply it consistently. I just have to be accountable for my own results. Having taken BootCamp, twice now, and committed to become a BootCamp instructor, the protocols are now second nature to me, and I use them every day, in product development, family decisions, personal goal setting and resolving conflicts. Because I can get results fast, and only results matter, I have more time with my family. I can resolve conflicts with folks I work with and people I live with and therefore have more time to have fun, spend with people I love, and work on things that give me joy. I can't think of a more challenging, and therefore useful, book to read for anyone who must work or live with others.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Kept Secret in Product Development
Review: I saw Jim speak at a Microsoft Canada Technical Briefing in March of 2000. He talked about patterns and antipatterns. At that time I was a technical consultant/programmer working on a team of twenty to build an online trading simulation. Every single thing he described in that keynote speech was true of our team. I decided I wanted to learn more. It wasn't until I was already signed up for BootCamp that I read Software For Your Head and I found out that it isn't about developing software. It's about developing the most important product, the product from which all other products are developed - the team. It was a tough read, but that was because it challenged so many assumptions, so much received wisdom for my years in large corporations. I was proud of the fact that I was adept at managing my time, understanding interpersonal politics, leading teams, facilitating meetings, leading change, and trying to produce great products instead of mediocre ones. But when I read SFYH I had to stop many times to rethink many of the situations I had been through. I was challenged to find a single one which I could not have handled better and with more positive results had I known and used the protocols properly. Also the sheer number of ideas presented in a single book is quite astounding. I have read the Blanchard books, for instance, which give you only 4-6 ideas in all of 120 pages for $$ Canadian each. SFYH gives you several ideas per page for a whopping 381 pages for just over twice the price - $$ Canadian. It is a disquieting read. Many business books set up a comfortable "we both know this subject is tough (otherwise you wouldn't have bought the book), but I'm on your side and I won't ask too much of you" companionable voice. It's a voice that says, "I know you're going to have a hard time making this work, and I don't really expect you to try." With Software For Your Head the writing is unequivocal. Jim and Michele assume you are a thinking capable, curious, intelligent adult who wants to learn and use that learning to do great things. They have learned from the teams they've observed in BootCamp, and they want to share the best practices of those teams with anyone who will listen. This book is about getting results. I found their challenge quite refreshing. It gave me hope that there really is something I haven't tried yet, and it really could work if I apply it consistently. I just have to be accountable for my own results. Having taken BootCamp, twice now, and committed to become a BootCamp instructor, the protocols are now second nature to me, and I use them every day, in product development, family decisions, personal goal setting and resolving conflicts. Because I can get results fast, and only results matter, I have more time with my family. I can resolve conflicts with folks I work with and people I live with and therefore have more time to have fun, spend with people I love, and work on things that give me joy. I can't think of a more challenging, and therefore useful, book to read for anyone who must work or live with others.
Rating:
Summary: Found what I was looking for!
Review: I study beautiful companies. It's easy to characterize the kinds of things I see in companies that are beautiful and those that are not-so-beautiful. What kept holding me back was the question: How did those companies get that way? I've read lots of proposals, but I believe the answer is right here in Software For Your Head. This is how you build beautiful companies. This is how you build beautiful teams. I read the book and I saw it happen at bootcamp. When you read it, if you've ever been part of something beautiful, you'll understand what Jim and Michele are doing. They're trying to help us put beauty back in our work.
Rating:
Summary: Software for Your Head
Review: I've read the book and sponsored several of the Boot Camps in a company. The protocols work and they are not just for any IT or high-tech team as some reviewers have noted. We took groups of Sr. and Executive management as well as mid-management and technical professionals through the boot camp and it really helped solidify these groups and raise their performance level. Several of them then took the BC to their teams. One particular exec takes his team through the BC almost every year. Yes, there's some pretty deep psychology and maybe a little new age in the text but there's nothing harmful about it at all. The Core protocols are great and I continue to use them all and teach teams these protocols. The book is a tough read, but worth it. The boot camps are really good and will blow you away.If you really want to jump start a team and get them firing on all cylinders then read the book and get a boot camp quick. It's worth the investment. But I do recommend you ensure it's a fit for your culture. The authors are very knowledgable but will pretty much tell you how it has to be to be successful with the Core and a boot camp. This can be too painful for some organizations but if you really want to change then it may well be for you.
Rating:
Summary: Quiet desperation got you down?
Review: If you loved Demarco and Lister's PEOPLEWARE but were left feeling powerless about what steps to take at work to make knowledge management better. If you ranged as far as Roger Schwarz's SKILLED FACILITATOR or Argyris's OVERCOMING ORGANIZATIONAL DEFENSES but were left at a loss about how you could apply it all in real time. If you resonated with Peter Drucker's POST CAPITALIST SOCIETY but could not apply his generalizations to daily production of knowledge capital. If any of the above, you will devour this book. Somehow books on releasing the greatness, beauty, and power of teams, always seem to strike glancing blows on real knowlede worker problems. In fact, most books won't come out and say that they want to change the world. Greatness, beauty, power, and such things come wrapped in such a mess of sociological, cultural, and managerial trouble, most books won't try to prescribe greatness et. al. Not this one. This one wants it all. World domination in catalyzing teams that concquer. The book is worth its price for its "McCarthyized" sound bites alone. But, this is in fact, genius from another dimension. You may disagree with everything it says, and still read it from cover to cover and profit greatly from constant questioning, provocation, and counter intuitive-examples provided. And there is always the chance, that the McCarthys are right.
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