Manager

Contracts that are, comprehensive, usable and complete.. Not to mention money saving, I recommend this item fully!

I recently started an indie record label and this has been a great resource in getting an idea of what is to be expected of me as well as the artists I am to assist. It is comprehensive and gives me more info than I can handle right now. I know I will need more in the future but this has given me a solid foundation. This is a must have for all self starters.
Spirit Filled Records on the Horizon Baby!!!! Look 4 us

One of the things that I found extraordinarily helpful with this product is that it comes with a CD-Rom, which allows you to actually customize the contracts to your liking.

When using the CD-Rom that comes with this book, you can go into each contract and add your company and/or other parties names, agreed %, dollar amounts and just about anything else that you need to add, and then print the contract out directly from your printer, giving you an agreement that is fully customized and professional looking.

I also found this thing to be extremely easy to use and self explanatory - No law degree needed.

Talk about convenience!!! You can't beat it.

The authors attempt to apply lean manufacturing principles and techniques to software development. Despite repeatedly warning the reader that manufacturing is different than software development, most of the examples are not from software development. Some examples were mildly interesting, but they just didn't apply. This had the weird effect of casting doubt on the whole concept they were trying to exemplify. The effort seemed forced, and the focus on manufacturing detracted from providing a clear and practical guide to software development.

The authors present some relevant tools (delaying decisions, eliminating waste, etc.) but these are not new and are presented in a more accessible format in other books. Some of the tools just did not register. Value Stream Mapping, for instance, showed delays were usually instigated by the customer, and we all serve at the pleasure of the customer. Queueing Theory is a long-winded and confusing way of saying what we already know from other agile exponents - that small batches are better. Despite the slimness (under 200 pages), it seemed like a lot of reading for very little information.

Still, I have to give at least two stars for any book that is aligned with agile practices.

If you are intrigued by the concepts of Agile, this is an excellent book to help you begin to map Agile methodologies and techniques into your team's software development process. Mary and Tom Poppendieck present 22 tools in 7 categories to help you begin to map Agile methodologies and techniques into your team's software development process.

Mary and Tom Poppendieck are experts in getting software done. They've taken a number of the most important Agile techniques from Lean Manufacturing techniques, and shown how they relate to lean/agile software development. They do not pontificate on Agile. Essentially, they extract a number of the most critical concepts, examine them, and then help you to see how you might bring them into your own software development process and team. This is not a cookie cutter approach: One of my issues with the leaders of movements like SCRUM and XP is that they believe that you should be using their techniques verbatim -- I once heard one of them say "You're either doing XP exactly, or you're NOT agile!"

This is not the case here. After a strong introduction, this husband and wife team launch into it. Like their in-person seminars, it's clear that they've been there -- they know what works, and what doesn't. These authors have developed a lot of solid software, built teams of developers, and delivered high quality code on tight deadlines. There's no fluff here -- at less than 190 pages, they don't have room for it. The first four chapters focus on modifying your process: making it lean, creating feedback loops, encouraging flexibility, and delivering fast. The next one focuses on development teams -- empowerment, motivation, and leadership. The final two are about coding: building integrity into your code and creating code that matches the entire system that is being built. There's also a fascinating chapter on creating contracts appropriate to the Agile model, which is definitely required reading, and is a rarely discussed topic in the Agile literature.

If you are intrigued by the concepts of Agile, this is an excellent book to help you begin to map Agile methodologies and techniques into your team's software development process. With its pragmatic approach, informative examples, and succinct and clear writing, this is an excellent book to get you thinking about how to apply the powerful concepts of agile to your development process.

I had pretty much the same feeling reading this book and Lean Thinking, as I did when I first started reading up on agile methods. It all felt like common sense and that's a comment I hear from a lot of people new to lean/agile. However, I feel, and have experienced, that there is a huge gap between viewing or perceiving something as common sense and actually applying that common sense to the work you are doing. Also, both this book and Lean Thinking put these principles and practices into a different perspective by showing how they have worked in the manufacturing business. Seeing the parallels between the work done in manufacturing a bicycle and crafting a software program is pretty powerful.

Mary and Tom do a great job in the book of presenting specific tools for applying all this "common sense". They start by introducing the seven principles of lean thinking when applied to software development:

1. Eliminate waste
2. Amplify learning
3. Decide as late as possible
4. Deliver as fast as possible
5. Empower the team
6. Build integrity in
7. See the whole

The rest of the book presents the 22 thinking tools that are all tied to the seven principles. Mary and Tom use a lot of real world examples of the usage of these tools and they do a very good job of explaining how each of them could fit into an agile ecosystem.

The book is pretty compact and the authors have clearly eliminated all waste from it because I was never bored.

I can't recommend it enough!

Excellent rendition of the XML landscape, painted mostly in broad brushstrokes, but detailed in places with enough code samples and product names to show what it's like on the ground with this technology.

Describes the problems that XML attacks. Moves on to expose some details of XML and DTD. All of the related acronyms and buzzwords are then catalogued in the next two chapters on associated standards and web services. Surveys the array of infrastructure software for supporting XML-based applications. Proposes processes and skills for building applications with XML. Finishes with an examination of ten typical applications for XML.

Positions these technologies within conceptual frameworks. Takes pains, for example, to distinguish clearly between remote interface and business document messaging architectures before launching into the details of XML messaging and web services. The classification schemes for XML infrastructure software and XML applications are also most helpful.

If you've read and appreciated David Taylor's popular books on object technology, then you'll like Mr. Dick's presentation, which follows the same pattern. The prose is clear. Major divisions are clearly marked. Every paragraph is summarized with a brief sentence beside it in the margin. I find these summaries particularly helpful in locating a specific paragraph that I want to re-read.

Mr. Taylor, who in addition to establishing the pattern also wrote the foreword, is probably correct: for those of us who will read only one book on XML, "this is the book."

In the world of over-hyped and under-performing technologies, the manager, who is often not technically proficient, is left trying to make decisions with insufficient or inaccurate information. Attempting to keep everything organized and learn the basics of and justifications for the new technologies is a hurdle that few can leap. Fortunately, this book lowers the bar to some extent. It is an explanation of the new XML (eXtended Markup Language) technologies without being a tutorial on the particulars.
As an overview, it covers all of the primary aspects of XML, what it is used for, how files are structured and the general standards that now exist. It will not teach you XML, but from it you will learn what it can and will be used for. Some time is also spent on XML messaging and web services as well as the different type of documents that can be created. The explanations are well done, landing neatly within the narrow range of being technical enough to be worth reading but not so technical as to be beyond the grasp of the intended audience.
If you are interested in understanding what XML is and are not yet ready for the technical details, then this book will show you what you need to know. In the hyper-competitive world of modern business, knowing what XML can do in data transfer and storage is a necessary skill for many. This book makes the opportunity to learn it readily available.

This is the most comprehensive and concise book of XML I've ever read. It doesn't not remain just a simple reference of the XML grammar or specification, but provides a good overview of XML from the high-level, Manager's, viewpoint. Especially, Chapter5, Processes and People, Chapter6, Five XML Applications for Enterprise, and Chapter7, Five XML Applications for Vendors are the hearts of this book. The author gives us clear and extensive prospects of what XML is good for and how your applications would be powered with XML.

This book is very poorly written. The author (for some reason) writes this thing like it is some great body of work in academic thought. I found this book to be exhausting, long, repetitive and very boring.

Gaps in her research include:

- Many new managers experience many aspects of management before they are actually promoted. I am surprised that the transition is such a shock to those that participated in the research.

- Her sample is too small to be representative.

- The sample space includes only sales related people. It does not include anyone in professional services. Sales personnel tend to be motivated by quotas and commissions (me, me, me). Consultants, accountants, lawyers, doctors, operations and other managers, who tend to be thought leaders, do not share many of the concerns and experiences of the "me" mentality (well, maybe some). My point being, if you are in a field other than sales, you are wasting your time with this book.

A "Cliff Notes" would be nice. One hour reviewing the highlights of this book is all anyone needs.

Anyone interested in management or professional development should read this book. I can't tell you how many times I wondered why steller sales people made such terrible managers. Other valuable topics such as working with your peers, managing your Manager and Leadership are also addressed.

Even if you are already a Manager, this book is definately and eye opener.

It's simply a must read for anyone considering to pursue a career in management. Learn from others experience!

A serious book that covers the entire scope of good management practices. No cutesy language, and definitely neither for dummies nor idiots. The first few pages on goal setting and the model they provide alone are worth the price of the book. I actually started reading the book backwards. The chapters are self contained and well written.

That said, the book suffers a certain dryness in delivery. What would enliven it and make the content easy to remember is well placed diagrams. I do not mean the kind of useless icons one finds in Dummies books, but serious business oriented diagrams that visualize the concepts.

You buy yourself a great education in managing when you buy this book. You will not become a manager by reading the book; but if you are already a manager you can be a great one.

After several years of reviewing management books and observing live education sessions for managers, I found this book. It is a great reference; distilling useful information that is usually only found in small doses in other books and classes. It also contains a bibliography of other useful books at the end of each chapter.

With a thorough examination of the issues a business faces, this book is as close as it comes to distilling a complete MBA degree into a single useful book.

The book breaks the critical areas of business into four basic areas: Thought Leadership, Results Leadership, People Leadership, and Self Leadership. In addition it breaks down those four areas into nine core factors that determine business success. These core factors include Strategy, Judgment, Business Knowledge, Planning and Execution, Motivation and Courage, Leadership, Interpersonal, Communication, and Self-Management.

The organization of the information was logical and useful. Some of the subjects covered include Strategic Advantage, Customer Loyalty, Sound Judgment, Thinking Strategically, Applying Expertise, Managing Technology, Planning, Managing Change, Influence, Coaching and Developing Others, Building Relationships, Managing Conflict and many, many others.

This is by far the most thorough and useful single reference book on managing that I have ever come across. For ease of use it can't be beat with each section having it's own introduction and a list of the most valuable tips in that section. Then to make it even more useful, at the end of the book is a listing of resources by chapter. These resources include available books and seminars that relate directly to the items in that chapter.

If you are involved in business management pick up a copy of this book and keep it close at hand you will find yourself referring to it often.

Professor Rappaport's revised version of his 1986 book on creating shareholder value provides a good description of the value based management concept that he helped create. However, many of the chapters are stand alone sections that do not flow well together. In some chapters he does not provide enough depth on how this book can actually be used by managers. In addition, the chapters on using his concepts to formulate value-maximizing business strategies was somewhat lacking.

Nevertheless, the book was an easy read and many of his points were right on target. I would also highly recommend interested readers to check out "The Value Imperative" by Marakon Associates and "Valuation" by McKinsey & Co for more information on value based management.

Professor Rappaport's revised and updated edition, provides a clear explanation of shareholder value concepts and application. One welcomed insight: he compares and contrasts the various shareholder methodologies (EVA and CFROI). As an indepent consultant specializing in shareholder value, I owe professor Rappaport and "Creating Shareholder Value" a debt of gratitude for introducing the critical link between corporate finance and competitive strategy. This is definately the "classic" work on shareholder value.

Given that investors value bonds by discounting future cash flows, it stands to reason that they value stocks in the same fashion. Alfred Rappaport is the founder of the shareholder value mindset which gained importance in the '80 and is widely accepted in this new millenium. Rappaport starts the book explaining that objections to using a discounted Cash Flow model do not hold. Strong arguments and empirical evidence is given to explain the market's valuation mechanism. What follows is a basic but thorough explanation of the 3 elements for valuing a company (cash flows , risk and the competitive advantage period). In the second part of the book, it will become clear for the reader DCF is closely linked to strategic analysis and is not in contradiction with stakeholder analysis, customer value analysis, Activity Based costing or any other tool. On the contrary, Rappaport shows DCF is a communication tool that helps investors understand a company's implied performance and how to (re)act. Together with the Valuation book from Copeland, Koller and Murrin this is the book you need.

A marketing high-concept for sure but I found the dynamics of an upsized family irrelevant to downsized corporate structures in this prime example of vanity press.

Chris and Reina Komisarjevsky illustrate effective management techniques using examples based on their toughest leadership experience: raising nine children. They delineate the skills that help children learn how to set goals, share objectives, communicate more effectively, and get along. Each chapter begins with a story about an experience with one of their children, such as buying ice cream or playing sandlot baseball. The stories illustrate management principles and guidelines. These precepts are very familiar, though linking them to child rearing is novel. Thus, the book serves as a nice, short recap of commonly known management and leadership principles, though we at getAbstract suspect that its treatment of the subject matter will probably be of more interest to managers who are parents as well.

The Komisarjevskys have struck a harmonious chord with this little book! The stories of their children are immediately engaging and natural springboards for discussing effective management practices. They teach us with heartwarming sincerity that our children can be wonderful teachers, and that we can become more effective managers, employers, employees and parents by heeding what they have to teach and applying the lessons to our work environments. The authors show that our home lives and its values are really a "precious center" that help us bear the surrounding weight of the world. These lessons lead us to find a better sense of balance between home and work responsibilities, something we are all striving for these days!

This book allows us not just a glimpse into a successful CEO's way of thinking, but a sustained excursion into his practical philosophy of life, which includes working with his wife, Reina, in their teamwork approach to family life.

The ability to manage organizational change is a crucial element of being a good manager. Unfortunately, Abrahamson's book does not do an effective job at teaching the lessons needed to learn change management skills. In his book, Abrahamson makes it apparent that he is a career academic with no real experience as a business leader. His examples are trite and unhelpful, and the lessons he tries to teach are either painfully obvious or too theoretical to ever be of any real help in a business setting. For a good book on this topic with solid advice and relevant examples, try either "Change Management" or "Strategic Organizational Change."

My Board of Directors found this book to be very helpful as we restructure two companies (each numbering over 500 employees). We were able to put existing skill sets to new uses while still making drastic changes in our organization. I highly recommend this book to anyone contemplating change in your company or organization. Read this first!

As someone who has worked in both the public and private sectors (for a number of years heading my own business), I found Abrahamson's book to be a breath of fresh air. He provides a clear, non-dogmatic approach to management that is rooted in real-life situations and behavior. His clear and accessible writing style helped to give this reader the insights needed to effectively analyze management situations and envision their solution. This is a useful and accessible piece of work.

The author presents tools to examine advices from executives, change consultants, academics, etc., and offers four basic tests for the actionability of advice. The good advice should specify the detailed, concrete behaviors required to achieve the intended consequences; it must be crafted in the form of designs that contain causal statements; people must have, or be able to be taught, the concepts and skills required to implement those causal statements; and the context in which it is to be implemented does not prevent its implementation.

Argyris' theory of good advice, being highly practical and actionable, is based on the author's theoretical framework of "Model-II", exposed in his book "Organizational Learning II", co-authored with Donald Schoen.

The book does also contain a brilliant section about effective strategic choices, written by Roger Martin in very friendly tone. A high-quality strategic choice, according to Martin, possesses four key attributes: it is genuine; it is sound; it is actionable; and it is compelling. The section uncovers these principles in details.

The book shows the difference between external and internal employee commitment to the advices and helps to create and foster internal commitment.

You can test the actionability of the advices given in this book using these advices themselves.

I would recommend "Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method and Practice" prior to reading this book. I would also recommend "Leading the Revolution" by Gary Hamel in addition to these books.

This is another fine book by Argyris. I think this, in addition to "Strategic Organizational Change" by Beitler, is very helpful. (Beitler has an outstanding chapter on how to evaluate consultants.)

I recommend everything that Chris Argyris writes. This is no exception. This book has insight about management advice that reminds me of the work of Alfred Kieser at the University of Mannheim (Germany). I highly recommend the work of both Argyris and Kieser.

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

Web services is all about standards and interoperability. But in this book, the author completely biased and tends to favor two vendors. This certainly made to throw this book to the corner to gather dust. There are so many best books available on Web services..better choose from authors who preach and practice web services.

I Saved your money.

The title is too restrictive! Ostensibly, the book is for managers and not engineers. There is not a stitch of source code in the book. The author does not assume that you know how to write code, but that you know how businesses use software. My impression is that the book is too useful to be restricted to managers. Programmers can also benefit, if they are about to embark on design and coding of a Web Service, and they have never done so before. Try starting here, as the first step in the design.

Manes gives an excellent summary of the field, with what I consider realistic assessments of its prospects. Part of the book's appeal is the vendor independence. Yes, you can go to the websites of IBM, Microsoft, BEA Systems and others, and find the latest status of their WS offerings and white papers on their strategic takes. And you probably should do that. But getting an independent comparison of their efforts is futile from their own papers.

I especially agree with her assertion that the dynamic assembly of software services is at least 10 years away. This is like in the 80s, when 4th and 5th Generation Languages were touted as just around the corner. When they arrived, you could instruct your computer in new tasks, without having to program! Well, that never happened. The complexity of business and research applications precluded it. Likewise with Web Services. Manes warns the reader not to be beguiled by such claims, but to focus on immediate do-ables.

I am so glad that this is the first book that I chose to read on Web Services. In our ever-changing world of IT, new technology and new terms pass by at dizzying speeds. We latch onto some and let others go in our attempt to stay current and relevant. The area of integration will be foundational for the new business models of the 21st century and Web Services is at the starting blocks to making it happen. As a technologist for one of the main players in IT Consulting & Services, I was looking for an unbiased (non company-oriented) and comprehensive view of the components, applications and issues surrounding Web Services. I found it in this book. Like one of the other reviewers, this was one of the most enjoyable business technology books that I have read and it exceeded my expectations. I also agree with the comment that this book should not be limited to managers. Even those who work deep in the details need to have a good understanding of the big picture from a business viewpoint to create the kind of value required. My thanks to Addison-Wesley and Anne Thomas Manes.