The Business Manager's Guide to Software Projects: A Framework for Decision-Making, Team Collaboration, and Effectiveness

Every day, successful software projects scale and sustain businesses of all sizes and across all industries. Unfortunately, the reality is that many software projects still fail. The reasons behind these failures are seldom due to the underlying technology. Misunderstandings and communication barriers lead to wrong decisions, missed opportunities, communication breakdowns, or worse―huge economic loss.

In this digitally connected world, business professionals can’t afford to be hands-off on technical projects, but they also can’t be expected to have technical certifications. They have first-hand knowledge of the business processes, are subject matter experts in software requirements, and they finance the projects. Even C-level management or board members need to rapidly gain just enough understanding of technology to make mission-critical decisions for businesses to survive and flourish. In most software projects the number of non-technical stakeholders far exceeds the numberof techies.

This book distills the world of software projects into simple terms and relatable metaphors for even the most technically adverse reader. Real-life examples, entertaining analogies, and hand-drawn illustrations will stick with readers throughout their own software projects, bolstering their success. Business requirements, use cases, process flows―the list goes on. It’s all broken down in this game-changing book aimed at delivering for business and tech teams what DevOps has done for developers and operations.

What You Will Learn

• Know the importance of good business requirements and how to write them
• Identify the most important business roles, key decisions, and critical activities involved in software projects
• Strengthen collaboration between non-technical and technical teams
• Grasp common software project terminology, required for non-techies
• Understand the software development life cycle
• Gain insight on the common software project methodologies and how they differ
• Understand what software developers do at a high level

Who This Book Is For

Non-technical business professionals (such as small business owners, startup founders, or employees of a business of any size or industry) who need to secure and implement a software solution. The reader may supervise or collaborate with technical teams, and may be a (beginning) software developer looking for practical insights and better ways to communicate with business colleagues.

Jonathan Peter Crosby is a software developer, performance engineer, and consultant who has worked in the field for over 20 years. Having gained his professional experience at a range of companies from startups to blue-chips, he also founded and co-founded three small tech companies―the first one at the age of 33. Jonathan works at the crossroads of technology and business. The best project outcome, he finds, is achieved through sharing the business and technical knowledge―a reason that he likes to involve all team members in important project decisions. Jonathan believes that effective communication is the cornerstone of every successful software project.