Principles of Software Development Leadership: Applying Project Management Principles to Agile Software Development

The software development market continues to grow worldwide. As projects become more complicated and the pressure to “do more with less” becomes the rule of thumb, the need for software managers to be well-versed with project management best practices becomes even more critical. Ultimately, every software development leader’s primary responsibility is to lead their organization to deliver quality products on time and under budget, but until now, there hasn’t been a concise set of principles for managers to follow to ensure these goals are met. Principles of Software Development Leadership: Applying Project Management Principles to Agile Software Development successfully integrates principles outlined by PMI in its Project Management Body of Knowledge with software leadership best practices. It provides all levels of software management, from program managers and project managers to software executives, with a set of best practices that will collectively create successful outcomes, and in turn will motivate software teams to deliver quality products on time. Especially important in today’s fast-paced environment, Principles of Software Development Leadership also shows software managers how to deliver quality products on time through the management of the relationship between planning, process, and people. Tips are presented on how to run software development like a business, master scheduling, track improvement, find and retain talent, and much more.

About the Author

Ken Whitaker, PMP and CSM, has over 20 years of executive line management experience with leading technology companies in a wide variety of industries, including real-time embedded, healthcare, insurance estimating, marketing merchandising, real-time control, wireless, mobile GIS, presentation graphics (remember Harvard Graphics?), and led the software team who delivered the first PC-compatible, battery-powered laptop to market.

He graduated from James Madison University with an emphasis in mathematics and fine arts and attended Virginia Tech’s Computer Science and Applications graduate school. He is Project Management Professional (PMP)–certified and an active member of the Puget Sound chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI). Ken is also a Certified ScrumMaster.