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A review by wolvereader
Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior by Tom DeMarco, Peter Hruschka, Timothy R. Lister, Suzanne Robertson
3.0
As far as patterns books go, this one was pretty light on the "pattern" part. It was more a series of short essays about things observed on project teams. Some of them offered advice. Some of them were more anti-patterns--things to avoid. Some were just strange. (The "IT seems to have a higher proportion of musicians" was a particularly useless 'pattern'.)
There are a few gems in here, especially around distributed development and high performing teams. There was lots that will be familiar to Agile practitioners, and there was lots that you'll recognize as happening in your own organization, both good and ill.
Overall, this is an easy read with some value, but if you're trying to learn about project management, you'd be better off starting with more focused books. On the other hand, if you're currently running a team or three, it couldn't hurt to leaf through here to remind yourself what you're doing right--and what you need to fix.
There are a few gems in here, especially around distributed development and high performing teams. There was lots that will be familiar to Agile practitioners, and there was lots that you'll recognize as happening in your own organization, both good and ill.
Overall, this is an easy read with some value, but if you're trying to learn about project management, you'd be better off starting with more focused books. On the other hand, if you're currently running a team or three, it couldn't hurt to leaf through here to remind yourself what you're doing right--and what you need to fix.