hiring technical people

as an addendum to previous post: although i mentioned one of the johanna rothman’s articles in the list of links, she really warrants a separate mention.

i really, really liked her manage it! book (published by pragmatic programmers). at first it seemed a bit dry, compared to weinberg’s writing (he contributes an introduction), but the feeling goes away after a few chapters.

i just feel so comfortable with her take on project management – there is no agilist zealotry or flashy theatrics. she is indeed very pragmatic – she acknowledges different organizations and different projects and teams, she introduces options and alternatives and explains the reasons for each. there are practical tips as well as a larger overall motifs that drive them.

but back to subject of this post – a few weekends ago i spent a whole day combing through her excellent hiring technical people blog. once again, it is perfectly pragmatic, i especially enjoy her style as she explores the ideas, not necessarily presenting them as truths handed down from above.

compare this with joel – he recently cleaned up and released his writing on hiring (smart and gets things done – which i already purchased). i really appreciate many of his ideas, and i think he’s done a great service to the industry by popularizing them, but i do not find myself trusting him fully as a reader – there is too much glitz and posturing, desire to shock and awe. plus he keeps forgetting about being humble – he is an owner of a boutique software company – he is damn good at what he does, but it means just that.

in any case, i have ordered johanna’s book on hiring technical people. she also co-authored another book on project management from pragprogs – behind closed doors: secrets of great management, which i am yet to read.

finally, her site contains another blog on project management, as well as a collection of articles, links to her guest blogs on other sites, etc. she is also a regular at annual amplifying your effectiveness conference, which i really should be going to.