Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers

"Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers" is a comprehensive guide--think of it as a field manual--to the management challenges of supervising and leading programmers.

J. Hank Rainwater introduces new and not-so-new managers to concepts that will encourage them and help them become strong leaders for their teams. You'll learn about the varieties of programmer personality traits and be able to match personnel to projects for maximum productivity. You'll also learn how to manage your strengths and weaknesses as you improve your leadership skills, which will result in dramatic improvements to your team's success. In this 'how-to' manual that's both practical and thought-provoking, you'll find several chapters devoted to administrative aspects of your job, such as managing meetings, hiring and firing, and principles of organizing your job for success.

Rainwater also describes task management software he built that you can use to organize project assignments.