Category Overview: Management

Management is a critical part of any project, often impacting the final success and quality of the project. As far as developers are concerned, there are two main types of management: project management and resource management.

Project Management

Depending on a developer’s role within a project or company, project management may be as limited as tracking their personal tasks they are required to complete, right up to organizing tasks and assigning them to others and communicating with clients, bosses or subordinates about the overall direction of the project.

Regardless of the role you take within a project, there are many principles you can follow that will help you deal with people, deliverables and problems as they arise.

Resource Management

Managing people is rarely an easy task, and it takes quite a lot of natural ability or practice and patience to get good at. Good developers tend to be gifted people, but it is most often with things like logic – not personal skills.

For any developer, communication is an important and often overlooked skill. The ability to explain your thoughts, ideas and technical jargon to another person, especially one who is non-technical, is required if frustration and arguments are to be avoided.

While this subject is geared more towards those in a leadership/management position, any developer, regardless of their experience or spot in the company, will need to communicate and work well with other people, be it a subordinate, boss or client.

Summary

We feel proper management of a project, its tasks, and the people around you are just as important for the success of a development project as the actual programming itself. Learning these skills can make you more efficient, more likeable, and more valuable to your company (read: you could make more money).