.KEYWORD pebookmonth1200
.FLYINGHEAD ENTERPRISE BOOK OF THE MONTH
.TITLE Effective management in the Nerd economy
.DEPT
.SUMMARY Programmers, software developers, and engineers are creatively and technologically gifted people. They’re the driving force behind the New Economy. They’re also almost universally a bunch of weirdoes. At least, that’s what you might be thinking if you come from outside their tight-knit culture yet find yourself struggling to manage this vital force in your company. There is hope, however, as Steve Niles reviews Nerd Herding by Cal Evans, an insider’s guide to managing the so-called Nerds of the corporate world.
.AUTHOR Steve Niles
Any student of eighties’ cinema knows what folly it can be to upset a Nerd. They’re liable to plant hidden cameras in your shower or completely disrupt your elaborately planned fraternity mixer. If it’s your job to manage software developers, or Nerds as Cal Evans affectionately refers to them in his ebook, Nerd Herding, you no doubt understand the great importance of keeping your team happy. However, Nerds, also known as Geeks, can’t be treated in exactly the same way you might treat other members of your staff. According to Cal Evans:
.QUOTE By its very nature, software development is a cross between the rigorous detail of engineering and the craftsman pursuits like fine carpentry. Because Nerds have to be equally at home in both halves of the brain, they are different and must be treated so.
Drawing upon his experience as a developer who made the conscious decision to move into management, Evans provides five helpful tips on the more effective administration of Nerds. The ebook version of Nerd Herding is available from MemoWare at http://www.memoware.com/Category=Business_ResultSet=0.htm. It’s an incredibly useful resource for anyone in management to keep close at hand. If you’ve never been a developer yourself, yet you suddenly find yourself in charge of this most unique group, Nerd Herding is a definite must-read.
Neither in software development nor management myself, I approached this ebook from an outsider’s perspective, but from observations I’ve made in a variety of corporate environments, I can attest to the importance of the insights Evans provides. But a number of years ago, I was an administrative assistant in a major industrial centrifuge company. I ended up performing clerical duties for both managers and engineers, and their differences were exceptionally clear. For example, managers wear tastefully coordinated ties with suits. Engineers wear striped ties, plaid shirts. Managers’ desks and offices are often adorned with crystal plaques, "I’d rather be golfing" figurines, and pictures of the family. Engineers’ cubicles are likely to be festooned with Taz dolls, soda-can pyramids, and pictures of Seven of Nine. My current boss is both a manager and an engineer and that scares the crap out of all of us.
I found the fact that these two camps had to work together endlessly amusing. The managers were probably in the most difficult position. They would be imposed upon from above with ridiculous deadlines, and it would be their unenviable job to approach the engineers with the news and face the belligerent wrath.
The problem, for you managers who don’t know this yet, is that engineers, software developers, and the like are not creating products. In their minds, they’re creating art.
Even the guy drawing a wire diagram for the starter motor on an industrial centrifuge imagines himself a modern day Rembrandt. The idea that such a masterpiece can be accorded a deadline is absurd to the artist at work. But of course, this is a business, and clients are waiting. It’s up to the manager to balance the demands of upper management with the egos and eccentricities of the developers.
That’s where Cal Evan’s ebook can come in so handy for you, the manager unfamiliar with the mind of a developer. He provides five incredibly insightful and pragmatic tips to help you get the best Nerds on your team and to keep them happy and productive. He discusses in great depth his distinctive hiring method, which gets the other Nerds actively involved in the process, he talks about how to invest in and teach your Nerds, and he turns it around and shows how you can learn from your Nerds as well.
Most importantly, however, he describes how to bond with your Nerds. He acknowledges that, "Nerds are by and large anti-social animals outside of their own circles." Evans reveals that this formidable hurtle in the burgeoning relationship between you and your Nerds is nothing an hour-a-week of first-person-shoot-’em-ups can’t handle. Bonding with your Nerd Herd, Evans explains, is most easily done on their own turf, the blood-splattered corridors of violent 3-D video games like Quake or Doom. I’d just like to add, however, that if you start seeing enemy characters wearing your digitally scanned face, don’t panic. That’s just their way of saying they care.
To effectively manage your software development team, you’re going to have to learn to meet their specific needs. Cal Evans’ Nerd Herding is a free ebook and is well worth having on your Palm device. By following Evans’ advice, you’ll ensure a mutually beneficial working atmosphere for both yourself and your Nerd team.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For Cal Evans’ Nerd Herding, visit http://www.memoware.com/Category=Business_ResultSet=0.htm.
For more information on Cal Evans, visit http://www.calevans.com.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
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