Most people have experienced--at least once in their lives--the incomparable thrill of being part of a great team effort. They can remember the unity of purpose they experienced, the powerful passion that inspired them, and the incredible results they achieved. People who have been on a great team can attest that the difference between being on a team with a shared vision and being on a team without one is the difference between joy and misery.
In 1996, Jim and Michele McCarthy, after successful careers leading software development teams at Microsoft and elsewhere, set out to discover a set of repeatable group behaviors that would always lead to the formation of a state of shared vision for any team. They hoped for a practical, communicable, and reliable process that could be used to create the best possible teams every time it was applied. They established a hands-on laboratory for the study and teaching of high-performance teamwork. In a controlled simulation environment, their principle research and teaching effort--the McCarthy Software Development BootCamp--challenged dozens of real-world, high-tech teams to produce and deliver a product. Teams were given a product development assignment, and instructed to form a team, envision the product, agree on how to make it, then design, build, and ship it on time. By repeating these simulations time after time, with the new teams building on the learning from previous teams, core practices emerged that were repeatedly successful. These were encoded as patterns and protocols.
Software for Your Head is the first publication of the most significant results of the authors' unprecedented five-year investigation into the dynamics of contemporary teams. The information in this book will provide a means for any team to create for itself a compelling state of shared vision.
0201604566B09042001
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In this book, legendary "software boot camp" creators and team development pioneers Jim and Michele McCarthy introduce a breakthrough collection of techniques for transforming how software development teams behave -- and the results they can achieve. These techniques, known as "theCore," consist of patterns, antipatterns, definitions, and protocols that all team members share. Think of them as an operating system that runs on the minds of team members -- in other words, "software for your head." The McCarthys demonstrate that the behavior of a software development team maps directly to the qualities of its end product -- and show precisely how those behaviors can be changed to improve the finished system. "TheCore's" techniques are designed to support improved interpersonal connections, better collective decision-making and assignment of accountability; greater personal and team commitments to individual and shared goals; and above all, far greater support for the achievement of shared visions. For every software engineer, developer, project manager, team leader, IT manager, Web professional, and software quality specialist interested in improving the quality and timeliness of software development.
Acknowledgments |
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xi | |
Introduction |
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xiii | |
PART I CHECK IN |
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1 | (104) |
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11 | (8) |
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11 | (1) |
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12 | (1) |
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13 | (1) |
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13 | (1) |
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14 | (1) |
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14 | (1) |
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Patterns Synergistic with Check In |
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15 | (4) |
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Check In Patterns and Protocols |
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19 | (34) |
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19 | (13) |
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Additional Discussion of Check In |
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32 | (11) |
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43 | (3) |
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46 | (2) |
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48 | (5) |
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53 | (16) |
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Antipattern: Too Emotional |
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53 | (10) |
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Antipattern: No Hurt Feelings |
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63 | (3) |
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Antipattern: Wrong Tolerance |
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66 | (3) |
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Other Patterns in the Check In Family |
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69 | (36) |
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69 | (5) |
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74 | (3) |
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Pattern: Thinking and Feeling |
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77 | (3) |
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80 | (2) |
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Pattern: The Greatness Cycle |
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82 | (23) |
PART II DECIDER |
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105 | (74) |
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111 | (6) |
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Other Decision-Related Elements |
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114 | (1) |
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115 | (2) |
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Decider Patterns and Protocols |
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117 | (32) |
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117 | (13) |
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130 | (7) |
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137 | (3) |
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Pattern: Work with Intention |
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140 | (6) |
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Pattern: Ecology of Ideas |
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146 | (3) |
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149 | (30) |
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Antipattern: Resolution Avoidance |
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149 | (5) |
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154 | (4) |
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158 | (5) |
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Antipattern: Boss Won't Give Power |
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163 | (2) |
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Antipattern: Team Quackery |
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165 | (14) |
PART III ALIGNING |
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179 | (82) |
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The Elements of Alignment |
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185 | (4) |
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Personal and Team Alignment |
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185 | (4) |
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Alignment Pattern and Protocol |
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189 | (10) |
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189 | (10) |
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199 | (16) |
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Antipattern: Not Enough People |
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199 | (9) |
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208 | (7) |
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215 | (46) |
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Pattern: Personal Alignment |
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215 | (17) |
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How and Why Alignment Works |
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232 | (4) |
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236 | (5) |
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241 | (6) |
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Pattern: Web of Commitment |
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247 | (6) |
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253 | (8) |
PART IV SHARED VISION |
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261 | (72) |
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The Elements of Shared Vision |
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269 | (10) |
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271 | (5) |
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Patterns Involved in the Shared Vision Process |
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276 | (3) |
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Shared Vision Patterns and Protocols |
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279 | (24) |
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279 | (8) |
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287 | (3) |
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290 | (12) |
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302 | (1) |
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Shared Vision Antipatterns |
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303 | (22) |
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303 | (2) |
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Antipattern: Technicality |
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305 | (8) |
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313 | (4) |
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317 | (8) |
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The Perfection Game Pattern |
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325 | (8) |
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325 | (8) |
PART V APPENDIXES |
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333 | (92) |
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Appendix A The Core Lexicon |
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335 | (18) |
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Appendix B BootCamp Material |
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353 | (30) |
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Appendix C The Core Protocols V. 1.0 |
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383 | (42) |
Index |
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425 | (8) |
Artwork |
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433 | (2) |
Authors |
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435 | |
Jim and Michele McCarthy founded McCarthy Technologies in 1996, after product development and program management positions at Microsoft, the Whitewater Group, Bell Laboratories, and elsewhere. Jim is the author of Dynamics of Software Development (Microsoft Press, 1995).
Jim and Michele McCarthy founded McCarthy Technologies in 1996, after product development and program management positions at Microsoft, the Whitewater Group, Bell Laboratories, and elsewhere. Jim is the author of Dynamics of Software Development (Microsoft Press, 1995).
0201604566AB12102001