Offer people the chance to test your ideas themselves–a “try before you buy” philosophy. People want to believe your ideas, so give them a reason to. Examples include the Nobel-winning scientist no one believed, flesh-eating bananas, and the human-scale principle.

    The book emphasizes that we all contain the ingredients for leadership, though some elements are better developed than others. "Anyone can improve as a leader simply by building the strength of our weakest elements, " author Gerald M. Weinberg writes. "Mr. Universe doesn't have more muscles than I do, just better developed ones."On one level, the book is an extremely down-to-earth, how-to guide. On a second, it is a set of parables, full of analogies that stick in the mind -- the art of management taught through stories about pinball, tinkertoys, and electric blankets. On yet another level, this is a book about the philosophy and psychology of managing technical projects. On every level, the author brings these entertaining and enlightening elements together to teach you the essentials of leadership.You'll learn how to-- master your fear of becoming a leader-- be creative in solving problems-- motivate people while maintaining quality-- gain organizational power-- plan personal change.-- Whether you manage people, are managed by people, or just want to change the way you interact with others, this book is about success. How to plan it, how to make it happen -- Becoming a Technical Leader shows you how to do it!

    The successful management of information has become so critical to a company’s goals, that in many ways, now is the age of the CIO. Yet IT executives are besieged by a host of contradictions: bad technology can bring a company to its knees, but corporate boards rarely employ CIOs; CIOs must keep costs down at the very same time that they drive innovation. CIOs are focused on the future, while they are tethered by technology decisions made in the past. These contradictions form what Martha Heller calls The CIO Paradox, a set of conflicting forces that are deeply embedded in governance, staffing, executive expectations, and even corporate culture. Heller, who has spent more than 12 years working with the CIO community, offers guidance to CIOs on how to attack, reverse, or neutralize the paradoxical elements of the CIO role. Through interviews with a wide array of successful CIOs, The CIO Paradox helps readers level the playing field for IT success and get one step closer to bringing maximum value to their companies.

    Starting with a conceptual model of the UML, the book progressively applies the UML to a series of increasingly complex modeling problems across a variety of application domains. This example-driven approach helps readers quickly understand and apply the UML. For more advanced developers, the book includes a learning track focused on applying the UML to advanced modeling problems. With The Unified Modeling Language User Guide, readers will: *understand what the UML is, what it is not, and why it is relevant to the development of software-intensive systems *master the vocabulary, rules, and idioms of the UML in order to speak the language effectively *learn how to apply the UML to a number of common modeling problems *see illustrations of the UMLs use interspersed with use cases for specific UML features *gain insight into the UML from the original creators of the UML

    Criminals succeed by exercising enormous creativity, and those defending against them must do the same.Beautiful Security explores this challenging subject with insightful essays and analysis on topics that include:The underground economy for personal information: how it works, the relationships among criminals, and some of the new ways they pounce on their prey How social networking, cloud computing, and other popular trends help or hurt our online security How metrics, requirements gathering, design, and law can take security to a higher level The real, little-publicized history of PGP This book includes contributions from:Peiter "Mudge" Zatko Jim Stickley Elizabeth Nichols Chenxi Wang Ed Bellis Ben Edelman Phil Zimmermann and Jon Callas Kathy Wang Mark Curphey John McManus James Routh Randy V. Sabett Anton Chuvakin Grant Geyer and Brian Dunphy Peter Wayner Michael Wood and Fernando Francisco All royalties will be donated to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

    Cloud computing is rapidly transitioning from a niche technology embraced by startups and tech-forward companies to the foundation upon which enterprise systems build their future. In order to compete in today’s marketplace, organizations large and small are embracing cloud architectures and practices.

    So, why does conventional wisdom insist that software engineers focus primarily on the design and development of large-scale computing systems?In this collection of essays and articles, key members of Google's Site Reliability Team explain how and why their commitment to the entire lifecycle has enabled the company to successfully build, deploy, monitor, and maintain some of the largest software systems in the world. You'll learn the principles and practices that enable Google engineers to make systems more scalable, reliable, and efficient--lessons directly applicable to your organization.This book is divided into four sections: Introduction--Learn what site reliability engineering is and why it differs from conventional IT industry practicesPrinciples--Examine the patterns, behaviors, and areas of concern that influence the work of a site reliability engineer (SRE)Practices--Understand the theory and practice of an SRE's day-to-day work: building and operating large distributed computing systemsManagement--Explore Google's best practices for training, communication, and meetings that your organization can use

    By 1993, the computer industry had changed so rapidly the company was on its way to losing $16 billion and IBM was on a watch list for extinction -- victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.Then Lou Gerstner was brought in to run IBM. Almost everyone watching the rapid demise of this American icon presumed Gerstner had joined IBM to preside over its continued dissolution into a confederation of autonomous business units. This strategy, well underway when he arrived, would have effectively eliminated the corporation that had invented many of the industry's most important technologies.Instead, Gerstner took hold of the company and demanded the managers work together to re-establish IBM's mission as a customer-focused provider of computing solutions. Moving ahead of his critics, Gerstner made the hold decision to keep the company together, slash prices on his core product to keep the company competitive, and almost defiantly announced, "The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision."Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? tells the story of IBM's competitive and cultural transformation. In his own words, Gerstner offers a blow-by-blow account of his arrival at the company and his campaign to rebuild the leadership team and give the workforce a renewed sense of purpose. In the process, Gerstner defined a strategy for the computing giant and remade the ossified culture bred by the company's own success.The first-hand story of an extraordinary turnaround, a unique case study in managing a crisis, and a thoughtful reflection on the computer industry and the principles of leadership, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? sums up Lou Gerstner's historic business achievement. Taking readers deep into the world of IBM's CEO, Gerstner recounts the high-level meetings and explains the pressure-filled, no-turning-back decisions that had to be made. He also offers his hard-won conclusions about the essence of what makes a great company run.In the history of modern business, many companies have gone from being industry leaders to the verge of extinction. Through the heroic efforts of a new management team, some of those companies have even succeeded in resuscitating themselves and living on in the shadow of their former stature. But only one company has been at the pinnacle of an industry, fallen to near collapse, and then, beyond anyone's expectations, returned to set the agenda. That company is IBM.Lou Gerstener, Jr., served as chairman and chief executive officer of IBM from April 1993 to March 2002, when he retired as CEO. He remained chairman of the board through the end of 2002. Before joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco, Inc. This was preceded by an eleven-year career at the American Express Company, where he was president of the parent company and chairman and CEO of its largest subsidiary. Prior to that, Mr. Gerstner was a director of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Co., Inc. He received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

    Everything you need to be fully prepared to take the PRINCE2Foundation and Practitioner examAs an internationally recognized certification which focuses onthe Foundation and Practitioner levels along with being recommendedby the Project Management Institute, the PRINCE2 accreditationgives a bolster to any resume.The author, David Hinde, has trained hundreds of individualsfrom many different backgrounds to prepare for the PRINCE2 exams.The book provides explanations of all parts of the PRINCE2approach, lots of practical examples, and a whole range of mockexamination questions to test your knowledge.Explains all the PRINCE2 themes, processes, principles, rolesand management products for the very latest version of PRINCE2(PRINCE2 2009 Edition)Features full coverage of all Foundation and Practitioner levelexam objectivesPresents real-world scenarios, showing how the method isused in business and the public sectorIncludes challenging review questions and electronic flashcardsto sharpen your knowledgeCovers tips and techniques for tackling the PRINCE2accreditation examinations and shows you how and where to take theexamsIncorporates over 300 sample Foundation-level and over 100sample Practitioner-level questions, with answers and fullexplanationsContains a glossary of all PRINCE2 terminology and a quickreference to all the PRINCE2 management productsGives a web link to a set of on-line tools with more bonusexamsPRINCE2 Study Guide covers all the necessary topics youneed to know in order to confidently take the PRINCE2 Foundationand Practitioner exams.

    They teach you how to make games. This book does not show you how to make games. It shows you how to take your game project to the finish line. Many game projects never make it beyond the alpha state.Game Development Success Is All About The Inner Game.Being a successful game developer does not (just) mean being a great programmer, a smart game designer or a gifted artist. It means dominating the inner game of game making. This separates the pros from the wannabes. It's the knowledge of how to stay focused, motivated and efficient during your game projects. It's the skillset of keeping things simple and avoiding misleading dreams of the next overnight success. Finally it's about thinking as a salesperson, not just as a designer, programmer or artist.

    He was demoted from his first leadership position after only three weeks—and that’s just one of several messy management stories in Management Mess to Leadership Success. Scott’s not alone. Everyone fails. But something sets Scott apart: he knows that failure is not a synonym for unwanted retirement.From Boss to Leader: Scott knows firsthand what it’s like to go from out-of-touch boss to team-growing leader. In Management Mess to Leadership Success, you’ll find 30 leadership challenges, honed by FranklinCovey through years of research, instructional programs, and executive consultancy, and illustrated with real-life experiences shared by someone who’s lived these challenges.Be a Strategic Maverick: Leaders aren’t hired to maintain the status quo. The whole point of leadership is to create positive (often radical) change. Sometimes, that means watching someone you’ve coached succeed—and maybe even surpass you. Sometimes, it means saying “no” more often than saying “yes.” But always, it means improving yourself and your team in new and unconventional ways. Dare to do the unexpected—dare to lead.Management Mess to Leadership Success combines the wisdom, expertise, and practical advice of successful leaders with proven methods to make effective changes to your leadership strategies. Learn how to: Lead difficult conversations and celebrate success Inspire trust, actively listen, and challenge paradigms Put the right people in the right jobs Create a clear and actionable vision for your team Accomplish your organization’s Wildly Important Goals Get the right results—in the right way Don’t miss out on this upcoming classic from FranklinCovey, the company behind The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

    They are not separate; they are one. If we want to live an extraordinary life, we have to make our work equally extraordinary. When your work resonates with purpose, you jump out of bed every morning, excited by the possibilities the day holds for you. Everything else in your life seems to have a glow about it, and you exude much more personal shine. My aim in writing this book is to help you feel like that every day. To help you make your work work for you. To feel truly free. Reading Free! will remind you that you are fantastic and have the ability to do amazing things; show you that work is your slave, not the other way round; help you make work your ticket to an extraordinary future; and put you in the driving seat and show you a route to freedom.

    Management is a key part of any organization, yet the discipline is often self-taught and unstructured. Getting to the good solutions of complex management challenges can make the difference between fulfillment and frustration for teams, and, ultimately, the success or failure of companies. Will Larson's An Elegant Puzzle orients around the particular challenges of engineering management--from sizing teams to technical debt to succession planning--and provides a path to the good solutions. Drawing from his experience at Digg, Uber, and Stripe, Will Larson has developed a thoughtful approach to engineering management that leaders of all levels at companies of all sizes can apply. An Elegant Puzzle balances structured principles and human-centric thinking to help any leader create more effective and rewarding organizations for engineers to thrive in.

    As the words "at work" suggest, Peter Seibel focuses on how his interviewees tackle the day–to–day work of programming, while revealing much more, like how they became great programmers, how they recognize programming talent in others, and what kinds of problems they find most interesting. Hundreds of people have suggested names of programmers to interview on the Coders at Work web site: http://www.codersatwork.com. The complete list was 284 names. Having digested everyone’s feedback, we selected 16 folks who’ve been kind enough to agree to be interviewed:- Frances Allen: Pioneer in optimizing compilers, first woman to win the Turing Award (2006) and first female IBM fellow- Joe Armstrong: Inventor of Erlang- Joshua Bloch: Author of the Java collections framework, now at Google- Bernie Cosell: One of the main software guys behind the original ARPANET IMPs and a master debugger- Douglas Crockford: JSON founder, JavaScript architect at Yahoo!- L. Peter Deutsch: Author of Ghostscript, implementer of Smalltalk-80 at Xerox PARC and Lisp 1.5 on PDP-1- Brendan Eich: Inventor of JavaScript, CTO of the Mozilla Corporation - Brad Fitzpatrick: Writer of LiveJournal, OpenID, memcached, and Perlbal - Dan Ingalls: Smalltalk implementor and designer- Simon Peyton Jones: Coinventor of Haskell and lead designer of Glasgow Haskell Compiler- Donald Knuth: Author of The Art of Computer Programming and creator of TeX- Peter Norvig: Director of Research at Google and author of the standard text on AI- Guy Steele: Coinventor of Scheme and part of the Common Lisp Gang of Five, currently working on Fortress- Ken Thompson: Inventor of UNIX- Jamie Zawinski: Author of XEmacs and early Netscape/Mozilla hackerWhat you’ll learn:How the best programmers in the world do their jobWho is this book for?Programmers interested in the point of view of leaders in the field. Programmers looking for approaches that work for some of these outstanding programmers.

    Whether you're building the next killer app, investing in a startup, or simply curious about the technology, this practical book is essential reading.Bitcoin, the first successful decentralized digital currency, is still in its infancy and it's already spawned a multi-billion dollar global economy. This economy is open to anyone with the knowledge and passion to participate. Mastering Bitcoin provides you with the knowledge you need (passion not included).This book includes:A broad introduction to bitcoin--ideal for non-technical users, investors, and business executivesAn explanation of the technical foundations of bitcoin and cryptographic currencies for developers, engineers, and software and systems architectsDetails of the bitcoin decentralized network, peer-to-peer architecture, transaction lifecycle, and security principlesOffshoots of the bitcoin and blockchain inventions, including alternative chains, currencies, and applicationsUser stories, analogies, examples, and code snippets illustrating key technical concepts