Books I've recently read and recommend!
Several years ago I read Understanding the Psychology of Programming by Bryan Dollery. The article was written in 2003 but you'd never know it unless you saw the date. It talks about how programming is a creative activity and how the environment of a programmer plays a large role in their creativity. I've referred to the article dozens of times over the last 6 years when conversing with other technical managers and today I want to share it with you. If you're a programmer or you are directly or indirectly responsible for the management of programmers you must read this article.
Understanding the Psychology of ProgrammingContrary to popular belief, programmers more frequently resemble artists than scientists. If you want to maximize the creative potential on your development team, you've got to start thinking about the psychology of the programmer and be willing to back it up with management policy.
Read it here.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/programming-and-...
Not saying any one thing solves all the problems but they inspire thought. My wife and I recently went through the Financial Peace University stuff and found something that fits this topic also. The DISC personality profile shows different people think 'different'. :) Perhaps many peoples one size fits all should be adapted to there are several good different approaches. Best practices might be more productive with a broader outlook.