星期一 2004年12月13日
星期一 2004年12月13日 最后期限
by Tom Demarco
汤 普金斯先生是一位经验丰富的项目经理，却也难免被炒鱿鱼的命运。这时有人出双倍的价钱将他"请"到一个海上的小国管理六个软件项目，资金、人员、设备等所 有外部条件都万事俱备，可以放手去做，还可以将自己的奇思妙想付诸实践。本以为因祸得福，却逐渐发现事情并没有那么简单，最后期限似乎变得不可能，但他已 骑虎难下…… 书中用一个虚构的故事阐述了真实世界中关于项目管理的一些原则，虽然它并不能解决任何软件问题，但它绝对会让你对项目管理的重要原则终生难忘。它将看似高 深莫测的项目管理理论以浅显易懂的方式展现出来，改变了项目管理书籍一贯枯燥乏味的形象，让你在轻松阅读小说的同时受益非浅。书中每章都以汤普金斯先生的 日记结尾，是他逐渐收集的经验，有了这些，你也可以成为一个优秀的项目经理。
I think it's a really good book, hmm, actually a story, a tale, a comedy, a fascinating experience for project management. I like it, and hope you too.
Engines of Tomorrow
企业研究院
After several months of hard hard work, just just finished one book "Engines of Tomorrow". //Sad
1929 年，美国发明家凯特林在对美国商会发表演讲时说：“我并非是在呼吁你们进行变革，事实是，你们非得进行变革不可——我没有耸人听闻，因为如果你们不这样 做，你们就会被淘汰。实行变革的人所推动的浪潮会淹没那些不事变革的人，并将后者淘汰掉。”从那时起到现在，企业研究和推动公司的发展之间的关系，从来没 有像今天这样密切。本书作者罗伯特·布德瑞将把我们带入当今世界最为成功的大公司之中——IBM、西门子、NEC、GE、朗讯科技、施乐、惠普、英特尔和 微软，深入他们一流的企业研究院，了解在今天瞬息万变的经济全球化环境中，这些企业研究院都是如何进行管理和运作的。这些行业中的巨擘都在自身的企业研究 发展过程中经历过艰难险阻，也在许多重要的问题上做出过重大决策，如研究经费的支出、研究资源的配置以及跨越地域和文化的研究机构管理等，他们的经验和教 训对今天的中国企业无疑有着巨大的参考价值和指导意义。本书讨论的这些开路先锋(包括老开路先锋和后来的新开路先锋)，他们不畏艰辛地在不同的历史时期、 不同的地域文化中，从事着各种研究创新和管理活动，他们是未来蓝图的描绘者，他们是世界发展的明日引擎。
I think this book is worth to read, which describes how these big companies started their CRLs (Central Research Laboratory), how these CRLs experienced hard regression at the beginning of 90' of 20th century, why the CXOs decided to set them and how the research areas are set, how different are these CRLs, how about the relationship among academic research, application research and product development, what's the difference from academic research to basic research, invention and innovation.
I think it's a good book to know the position of CRLs among companies.
Unfortunately it didn't mention Sun Lab.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
高效能人士的七个习惯
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", it's a really good book for us, from my point of view.
Technical abilities are very important for us engineers, to be great engineers, or event to be good architects. But what's more is good habits to work & life. Some great guy said "Success is not a fortune, it's a habit." Yes, I can't agree with him more.
But how can we own these good habits? Changing behaviors are most difficult for persons. Sometimes we want to do so, but we fail. Less persons try again and again, and then they change their habits and success.
I want to be successful, and I think almost of you think so too.
This book is a great book to tell you what to change and how to change. The most important seven habits to be highly effecitve people are:
1) Be Proactive - Principle of Personal Visio
2) Begin with the End in Mind
3) Put First Things First - Principle of Personal Management
4) Think Win-Win - Principle of Interpersonal Leadership
5) Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood - Principle of Empathic Communication
6) Synergize - Principle of Creative Cooperation
7) Sharpen the Saw - Principle of Balanced Self-Renewal
I hope you can read this great book, self-reflect, change and we can progress together and succeed.
References:
新浪连载
专业培训
FranklinCovery网站
Peopleware
人件
"PeopleWare"?
Yes, PeopleWare. People is ware.
Strangly enough, When I firstly read this book, I didn't like this title very much. How can people be ware? From my view of last more than twenty years, I was instructed that people is totally, different from machines, again and again. We human beings are active, reactive, or even proactive. We have ideas, feelings, and spirits.
But how a corporation, a software corporation, or a team of software group, can achieve its goal in schedule? If the demands, environments, techniques are changing frequently and greatly.
How can the project managers treat their guys/girls exactly to bring, encourage, or incite them to work hard to meet the deadline, even in a project so called "road to hell"?
Different customers demand different menus.
For certain large, slow, clear software projects, old-fashion methodologes, such as water-fall, CMM, UP/RUP are quite adequate. But for small, quickly changed and unclear projects, modern ways are better. Agile Programming, eXtreme Programming, Crystal, and so on, fascinating and inciting engineers work harder and harder.
How about peopleware? People are very important in software projects. Not processes, not managers. Actually the most important thing of project managers is to make people, developers, testers, writers, and others feel better, either in CMM, UP or AP, XP, Crystal.
"People are the first ware in software projects".
Who said it? Who?
It's me. //Wink
Either you like it or not, if you want to know what people should do and how they're treated in software projects by good managers, you should read this book carefully.
It's really an excellent book for mangers firstly, and engineers too.