Politics in Software Development: Navigating Stakeholder Power and Conflict in Organizations

Book Description

Equip yourself to navigate organizational politics in the world of software development. This book will help you understand the power dynamics at work between competing stakeholders with conflicting goals in projects and organizations.

Politics in Software Development consists of three main parts. Author Peter Wendorff begins by defining key concepts in organizational politics. He then moves on to software development processes and investigates how their design reflects stakeholder interests. In the final part, he highlights the role of political skill in software development and provides an overview of tactics that stakeholders frequently use.

There is widespread competition within organizations for rewards, recognition, status, and power. It gives rise to political behavior of stakeholders, which is generally seen as a problem. This negative view of organizational politics tends to overlook its positive functions. For example, it can also be thought of as an arena where stakeholders with conflicting goals can argue, persuade, negotiate, bargain, and cooperate to address conflicts.

Political conflict resolution regularly happens in organizations in an entirely civilized manner. It helps find agreements that reconcile differences in a constructive way, and it is needed because stakeholder conflicts are simply a natural aspect of organizations. While there is much literature about organizational politics, very few authors consider the specifics of software development. This book addresses both subjects and is written for an audience interested in a political perspective on software development.

What You’ll Learn

• Recognize and understand political activities in organizations
• Understand what software processes have to do with stakeholder power and interests
• Acquire fundamental political skills for dealing with politics in software development

Who This Book Is For

Project managers, lead developers, team leaders, team coaches, product owners, business analysts, developers, and other software professionals. This book is also suitable for students in software engineering.

中文：

书名：Politics in Software Development: Navigating Stakeholder Power and Conflict in Organizations

准备好在软件开发世界中驾驭组织政治。本书将帮助您理解在项目和组织中目标相互冲突的相互竞争的利益相关者之间的权力动态。

软件开发中的政治由三个主要部分组成。作者彼得·温多夫从定义组织政治中的关键概念开始。然后，他转到软件开发过程，并调查他们的设计如何反映利益相关者的利益。在最后的部分中，他强调了政治技能在软件开发中的作用，并概述了涉众经常使用的策略。

组织内部普遍存在着对奖励、认可、地位和权力的竞争。它会导致利益相关者的政治行为，这通常被视为一个问题。这种对组织政治的负面看法往往忽视了它的积极作用。例如，它也可以被视为一个竞技场，在这里，目标相互冲突的利益相关者可以争论、说服、谈判、讨价还价和合作解决冲突。

政治冲突的解决经常以完全文明的方式在组织中发生。它有助于找到以建设性的方式调和分歧的协议，而且它是必要的，因为利益相关者冲突只是组织的一个自然方面。虽然有很多关于组织政治的文献，但很少有作者考虑软件开发的细节。这本书涉及这两个主题，是为对软件开发的政治观点感兴趣的读者而写的。

你会学到什么？

• 认识和理解组织中的政治活动
• 了解软件过程与利益相关者的权力和利益
• 掌握在软件开发中处理政治问题的基本政治技能

Who This Book Is For

项目经理、首席开发人员、团队负责人、团队教练、产品所有者、业务分析师、开发人员和其他软件专业人员。这本书也适合软件工程专业的学生。