Comments on "Peopleware" by DeMarco and Lister

Today I completed reading the management / software classic "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" by Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister.

I loved reading this business/management book. It's a classic of the "people" side of managing software projects. Originally written in 1987, updated in 1999 (2nd edition) and 2013 (3rd edition), I found it very relevant, and it meshed well with experiences as a manager and consultant in the financial industry. It made me think about some of the practices I've seen and engaged in in my career--what works; what doesn't; what makes work satisfying; what destroys satisfaction. 

"Sociology matters more than technology or even money. It's supposed to be productive, satisfying fun to work. If it isn't, than there's nothing else worth concentrating on."

The most interesting section for me was Part IV: Growing Successful Teams.  A productive team, what they call a "jelled team", is a group of people who achieve a result that is greater than the sum of its parts, and tend to enjoy themselves doing so. Such a team cannot truly be built; it is "grown"like a farmer grows a crop. One never knows if a team will jell and begin pulling together with extraordinary results --its more of a natural function of humans working together, given the right circumstances.   About all that the authors can offer in the way of prescriptions is a list of things NOT to do, which will impede team formation (so called "teamicide"). 

More than anything, this made me think of the last book I read, "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown. Brown talks about "swing", the ability of an 8-man crew to enter into a state of near selfless teamwork: "It only happens when all eight oarsmen are rowing in such perfect unison that no single action by any one is out of synch with those of all the others....Only then will it feel as if the boat is a part of each of them, moving as if on its own. Only then does pain entirely give way to exultation."

Some other notes from Peopleware:

• The importance of the workspace environment for effective teamwork, and the necessity of wresting control from the "Furniture Police", who think they can reduce facility costs without regard to the much higher cost of lost productivity when the workspace is incorrectly configured.
• The idea of having a job candidate lead an "audition", a 10-15 minute presentation about any relevant topic to the entire team, to let the team get to know the candidate and weigh in.
• "Disney Fellow Alan Kay defines technology as whatever is around you today but was not there when you were growing up....One generation's technology is the next generation's environment"
• "Employee turnover costs about 20 percent of all manpower expense.  But that's only the visible cost of turnover."  The invisible cost of turnover can be far worse; it is a tendency to short-termism.  Those who don't expect to be around a long time won't be concerned with making long term investments in the organization--they'll simply try to cut short term costs and may harm the organization.  The authors mention that high turnover is the sign of a dysfunctional organization, and often goes unmeasured.
• "Extended overtime is a productivity-reduction technique, anyway.  The extra hours are almost always more than offset by the negative side effects."  I hardily agree, and wonder if this might be part of the reason why a Japanese worker is less productive than an American worker.
• "Any action that rewards team members differentially is likely to foster competition.  Managers need to take steps to decrease or counteract this effect."  The authors are critical of very common American management tools like annual reviews, giving awards and prizes to individuals, etc, which lead to competition among team members.  This is one area where I think the Japanese may have it right--at least in traditional companies they treat everybody more or less equally.
• "It's heady and a little frightening to know that the boss has put part of his or her reputation into the subordinates' hands.  It brings out the best in  everyone."  Of course, and it rings true that every good manager I've had has put his or her reputation in my hands to some extent.  But it makes me question my sometime timidity as a manager.  Have I been engaging in "defensive management"  and demotivating my subordinates?
• From the "The Cult of Quality" in Chapter 28: "Extraordinary quality doesn't make good short-term economic sense.  When team members develop a cult of quality, they always turn out something that's better than what their market is asking for.  They can do this, but only when protected form short-term economics.  In the long run, this always pays off.  People get high on quality and outdo themselves to protect it."  This always reminded me of how the Japanese work (ideally), and I wonder if this came from the original 1987 version.
• On Closure: "It may be news to some, but the human creature needs reassurance from time to time that he or she may be headed in the right direction....Such reassurance comes from what psychologists call closure.  Closure is the satisfying "thunk" of pieces of the whole falling into place." 
• On "Methodology Madness".  "Of course, if your people aren't smart enough to think their way through their work, the work will fail.  No Methodology will help."  And, "Voluminous documentation is part of the problem, not part of the solution."  And, "You can't really declare something a standard until it has already become a de facto standard."  
• "The ultimate management sin is wasting people's time."  I suspected that, but it's good to be reminded.