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". . . Reading the book felt like attending
a good conference. It includes a lot of interesting
material, some confirming what you already know,
some of which areless relevant for you, but some
that are very useful. The net result is some discoveries
that help think about your work, discuss it, and
improve it."
—Ben Linders, IEEE
Software
"Brilliantly insightful. At one moment you'll
think 'Darn, I do that . . . we're toast' followed
quickly by the reassurance of 'I'm not the only
one. There's hope!'"
—Howard Look, VP, Software, Pixar Animation
Studios
"Another masterpiece from the folks who brought
you Peopleware. Anyone who has survived a
software project or two will surely recognize many
of these patterns and will be able to learn from
most of them. Adrenaline Junkies and Template
Zombies is a real joy."
—Joel Spolsky, author of Joel on
Software
"A remarkably compelling book that captures
with vignette, anecdote and history, both the anthropology
and sociology of software project dysfunction. There
is the knowing and weary but not-yet-cynical voice
of experience that will make project leaders, managers
and participants flinch and wince with recognition."
—Michael Schrage, MIT Media Lab
"Who else but these particular authors could
mine 150 years of software team experience to capture
memorable names for oft-encountered situations?
I suspect you will start using these phrases in
your work—I already have."
—Alistair Cockburn, author of Agile
Software Development
"The 86 project patterns are grimly familiar
to anyone who has worked in project-related organizations.
Fortunately, some of the patterns are good ones,
and should be encouraged. Sadly, though, many of
the others are not only depressingly familiar, but
astonishingly destructive to productivity, quality,
and the morale of the project team."
—Ed Yourdon, author of Death March
"Written with a combined sense of humor and
deep insight. The book clearly conveys why projects
fail and what can be done about it. It is all doable
practical advice delivered in a very friendly and
acceptable way."
—Warren McFarlan, Professor, Harvard
Business School
"This is an absolutely must-read book for
everyone running an IT organization. Actually, the
lessons in this wonderful book are applicable to
anyone running any kind of project-based organization—just
about every organization. The metaphors are funny
in that kind of tragic-funny you've been there kind
of way. You will recognize the common pathologies
of projects everywhere. With a dose of courage and
this book in hand, you will be able to create a
healthy project environment where people can thrive
and still deliver consistent results."
—Lynne Ellyn, Sr. Vice President and
CIO, DTE Energy
"People have always tried to understand themselves
and each other. Our survival has depended on such
understanding, as has the quality of that survival,
from bare subsistence to deeply fulfilling livelihood.
What people do individually, interpersonally, and
within their institutional matrices, forms distinct
frameworks of attitude and behavior. Perceiving
the dynamics of these complexes (let's call them)
confers both insight and power. Three attempts at
such understanding leap to mind. The Chinese had
the I Ching, or Book of Changes. Architects
have had A Pattern Language. And medical
psychology has had its Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders. Brilliantly blending
elements of all three (not least from that last
one), Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies
maps the patterns people create and follow—to
their detriment and advantage—in the projects
they engage within organizational contexts. Sharp,
funny and dead-on-target, the book deserves a wide
reading."
—Christopher Locke, coauthor of The
Cluetrain Manifesto
"I love this book. It is as though the authors
were spying on my office for the past 20 years.
. . . Flip through this book. Find a pattern --
either good or bad -- that fits your current project,
bring the book to work and show people that your
workplace is not unique, that others have done the
same before, and what the result will probably be
if you don't change."
—Dwayne Phillips, author of Working
Up to Project Management, http://dwaynephillips.net/
". . . Unless you have been blessed to a
level that no one to my knowledge has ever been
or you have never worked, then there will be patterns
in this book that will cause your head to nod in
agreement. Using colorful language on occasion and
consistent blunt talk, the authors tell it straight,
providing advice that pulls the facade off of some
of the common notions of what makes a project work.
. . . a bit of chaos, animated discussion with disagreement
and respectful truth telling are all signs of an
efficient and productive team.
". . . This past year, I authored a new major
and minor program in Management Information Systems
(MIS) for the college where I teach. Two of the
upper-level classes in the program involve the study
of the proper ways to manage IT projects. This book
will be used as a supplementary text when I teach
those courses."
—Charles Ashbacher, Journal
of Object Technology
". . . a compelling read; you
sit and read one essay, muse on it, and promptly
read another. . . . The pleasure comes from recognising
the wicked portraits of some especially clueless
roles on projects. Who hasn't met the project manager
in Management by Mood Ring who always talks in optimistic,
eternal-present tones with nary a mention of progress
towards targets or deadlines? And what about the
Film Critics who perpetually lob tomatoes into a
project, with no feeling of responsibility to help
make it work any better? . . .
"Few other groups in the world
today could have assembled such a wealth of expertise
in project management, and none, perhaps, could
have written about it so engagingly. I think you'll
enjoy reading it. If you're in a position of power,
I hope you'll take it to heart."
—Ian Alexander, posted on Amazon.com
"How can you keep from getting
sick by infection? You need to build up immunity.
There are two ways to do this. One is by surviving
an earlier bout with the disease, and the other
is by getting vaccinated.
"Reading this book will "vaccinate"
you against the negative project behaviors it describes,
so that they can be recognized and dealt with before
they cause project failures. Learning from the failures
of others is a lot faster and cheaper than learning
"the hard way" (by taking part in failed projects
yourself). Get everyone on your team a copy, so
that the cries of alarm cannot fail to be heard."
—Mark Wallace, posted on Amazon.com
"I highly recommend this book.
Many books that relate to technical or managerial
subjects are difficult to read -- a lot of stuff
you don't care about, and the occasional nugget.
Adrenaline Junkies is a book of nuggets.
Each chapter is a nugget or 'pattern,' including
a phrase, a picture, a sentence and a couple of
pages of descriptive text. . . . Not everyone will
care about every pattern, but the book is organized
in such a way that the reader has control over what
to miss. Some patterns validated my own experiences.
Some provided new insights. A couple I didn't get.
My recommendation: read through the book. . ."
—Robert Newbold, posted on Amazon.com
"God, what a great read! Serious
topics, but plenty of humor to take the edge off.
As usual, this team of folks have got it right.
For everyone in the software development arena,
this is a must read!"
—Erlo Banfield, posted on Amazon.com
". . . this is one of my 'must
keep' books which I'll refer to over and over again
in the years to come. This book describes both behavioral
patterns, good things to do, and behavioral anti-patterns,
bad things to do. . . . Most of the patterns are
in fact positive strategies, such as Eye Contact
which stresses the important of distributed workers
meeting together physically on occasion to build
trust and communication channels. . . .
" At times the behaviors described
seem fairly common -- they are, which is why they're
captured as (anti-)patterns. This is good, because
as Mark Twain pointed out common sense isn't very
common, so pointing common behaviors out to people
can be quite valuable. Also, what you may think
is common may be an eye-opening revelation to someone
else, and vice versa. . . . Anyone serious about
their IT career will find this book to be a valuable
investment."
—Scott Ambler, Dr.
Dobb's Journal
"What makes a project successful
or doomed -- loved or hated? Those are the questions
Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding
Patterns of Project Behavior hopes to answer,
looking critically at the archetypes of people and
engineers that people constantly fall into. . .
a comprehensive guide that offers an example of
what is a good and bad behavior coming from team
members in management of a project. . . . highly
recommended to anyone in charge of a group project
and for community library business collections."
—Jim Cox, Internet
Bookwatch
". . . contains a list of behaviors
found in projects, some of which will make them
a joy and others that will make them a terror. .
. . In [my favorite], the authors point out that
if the social structure of the organization is such
that every item of work must always be commented
on with a 'Good job' then the result is mediocrity.
To be successful, people must be able to give and
receive constructive criticism. . . ."
—Charles Ashbacher, The
Journal of Object Technology
". . . very useful, a real eye-opener
for any business, a must-read for any manager—well
done!"
—Gennaro Pastore, Quality Control Manager
for Dunhill
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