Management, Labour Process and Software Development

This revealing book is about software development, the developers themselves, and how their work is organized and managed. The latest original research from Australia, Europe, and the UK is used to examine the differences between the image and reality of work in this industry. Chapters also cover issues surrounding the management of 'knowledge work and workers' and professionals in order to expose some of the problems of the management of software development work and workers.

Rowena Barrett

1. Introduction: Myth and Reality 2. A Short History of Software 3. The Labor Process in Software Startups: Production on a Virtual Assembly Line? 4. Managing the Software Development Labour Process: Direct Control, Time and Technical Autonomy 5. Trick and Technical Autonomy As Control in Knowledge Work 6. Coming and Going at Will? Working Time Organization in German IT Companies 7. Professional Idenitity in Software Work: Evidence from Scotland 8. Organizational Commitment Among Software Developers 9. The Reality of Software Developing