When comparing Managing Humans vs Rapid Development, the Slant community recommends Rapid Development for most people. In the question“What are the best books on technical leadership in software projects?” Rapid Development is ranked 3rd while Managing Humans is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Rapid Development is:
The author discusses how haste and unrealistic schedules will negatively impact a project. Causing the deadline to extend well past what it could have, had a realistic time frame been put in place initially.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Manages to be hilarious while still teaching you valuable lessons
The author has a witty and snarky writing style, however this doesn't detract from the insights and lessons in each chapter.
Pro Uses anecdotes to teach
Pro The best of Michael Lopp's essays
Much of the content in the book comes from the author's popular blog, Rands in Repose.
Pro Covers improving development schedules in detail
The author discusses how haste and unrealistic schedules will negatively impact a project. Causing the deadline to extend well past what it could have, had a realistic time frame been put in place initially.
Pro Lists out "Best Practices" to summarize the lessons
This is a large book at 680 pages, so having the lessons summed up is quite beneficial. 27 "Best Practices" are discussed, including the pros and cons of them.
Pro Focused on implementable lessons
Rather than discuss only the theory behind leadership, and author focuses on providing real examples and lessons that can be applied.
Cons
Con Lack of continuity
What is a pro for some is a con for others. This book is a collection of posts from the author's blog, meaning there is often very little flow between the chapters.
Con Outdated methodologies
This book was published in 1996 and discusses methodologies that were popular at the time (such as the waterfall model).
