Over the course of a legendary career, Joe Marasco earned a reputation as the "go to" software project manager: the one to call when you were facing a brutally tough, "make or break" project. Marasco reflected on his experiences in a remarkable series of "Franklins Kite" essays for The Rational Edge, Rational and IBMs online software development magazine. Now, Marasco collects and updates those poignant essays, bringing his unique insights (and humor) to everything from modeling to scheduling, team dynamics to compensation. The result: a new classic that deserves a place alongside Fred Brooks The Mythical Man-Month in the library of every developer and software manager

Highlights include

How software projects resemble other projects—and how theyre different

The iterative problem-solving clock: ending the day with real solutions
The realities of scheduling: How late are you going to be?
Trade-offs, estimating, project rhythm, and getting products out the door
Understanding what youre seeing, hearing, and feeling as a software manager
The human element: politics, negotiation, compensation, culture, and growth
Avoiding crises before they happen... and mitigating them when they do
Thinking laterally: original ideas in software project management