Leadership Patterns for Software and Technology Professionals

This book addresses two of the most challenging aspects of developing good software: communication and leadership skills. Team development of software systems has become the norm rather than an exception. Even though it has been shown that communication among the project team members is a critical determinant of software quality and project completion time, it still hasn’t received the focused attention it deserves. Worse yet, there has been a disconnect between leadership discussions and the software profession. This book attempts to shed light on these dual deficiencies and offer insightful solutions derived from real-world experience.

Matt has served SMU both as the chair of our CSE Industry Advisory Board and as an adjunct professor. He is very familiar with the challenges the industry faces, having served in many different technical and executive roles, including CIO. As he has interacted with our undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, they have benefited from his real-world experience and his visionary outlook on leadership principles pertinent to the software profession. He has bottled the wisdom in meeting those innumerable exchanges into transferable and coachable principles in this book. I believe this will be a great read not only for the students who want to train in the software profession but also for practicing professionals. (From the Foreword by Dr. Suku Nair, PhD, Chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department, Southern Methodist University)

Leadership Patterns for Software and Technology Professionals uses patterns to simply state the problem and succinctly identify the outline of a solution. These leadership patterns are the basic building blocks for both successful software products and interactions with everyone affected by the project. They provide insights that will help you leverage leadership, influence, and relational skills to deliver impressive results.

Matt McBride has held technical and executive positions in software and systems development for a wide variety of organizations, including Texas Instruments, Raytheon, Bank of America, Tyco, ADT, and a number of smaller organizations. He is an executive with a strong reputation in transformational leadership and building trusted partnerships between business and technology organizations. As a CIO and operational executive, he focuses on four key areas: strategy, execution, innovation, and mentoring.

A frequent industry speaker and author, McBride teaches graduate-level courses in leadership, software architecture, and software design at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He has also chaired the university's Computer Science and Engineering Industry Advisory Board.

His book, Leadership Patterns for Software and Technology Professionals, proposes a new approach that will allow technologists to deliver successful products and advance their careers with improved leadership and relational skills.