Peopleware
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peopleware is a term used to refer to one of the three core aspects of computer technology: hardware, software, and peopleware. Peopleware can refer to anything that has to do with the role of people in the development or use of computer software and hardware systems, including such issues as developer productivity, teamwork, group dynamics, the psychology of programming, project management, organizational factors, human interface design, and human-machine-interaction.[1]
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[edit] Overview
The concept of peopleware in the software community covers a variety of aspects:[2]
- Development of productive persons
- People management
- Organizational culture
- Organizational learning
- Development of productive teams, and
- Modeling of human competencies.
[edit] History
The neologism, first used by Peter G. Neumann in 1977 [3] and independently coined by Meilir Page-Jones in 1980, [4] was popularized in the 1987 book, "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. [5]
The term "Peopleware" also became the title and subject matter of a long-running series of columns by Larry Constantine in Software Development magazine, later compiled in book form.[6]
[edit] Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
Arguably the best known and most influential work on the subject is the classic DeMarco and Lister book Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Written by software consultants Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, it focuses primarily on project management but also addresses such topics as the conflicts between individual work perspective and corporate ideology, team “jelling,” group chemistry, corporate entropy, flow time, “teamicide” and workspace theory (for optimization).
The first chapter of the book claims that the “major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature.” The book approaches sociological or ‘political’ problems such as quiet in the work environment and the high cost of turnover.
The authors present most subjects as principles backed up by concrete stories or other information. For example, the chapter “Spaghetti Dinner” presents a story (fictional, but similar to true stories) of a manager inviting a new team over for dinner and then having them buy and prepare the meal as a team, in order to produce a first team success. Other chapters use real-life stories or cite various studies to illustrate the principles being presented.
[edit] References
- ^ Larry Constantine Constantine on Peopleware Prentice Hall, 1995, p. xxi. (ISBN 0-13-331976-8)
- ^ Silvia T. Acuna (2005). A Software Process Model Handbook for Incorporating People's Capabilities. pp.9-11.
- ^ Peter G. Neumann "Peopleware in Systems." in Peopleware in Systems. Cleveland, OH: Assoc. for Systems management, 1977, pp 15-18. (ISBN 0-93-435613-0)
- ^ Page-Jones, M. Practical Guide to Structured Systems Design. New York: Yourdon Press. (ISBN 0-13-690769-5)
- ^ Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. New York: Dorset House, 1987. (ISBN 0-932633-43-9)
- ^ Larry Constantine The Peopleware Papers Prentice Hall, 2001. (ISBN 0-13-060123-3)
