Scott J. Pearson

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science

By Scott J. Pearson | November 28, 2024November 28, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Most problems that contemporary society faces require experts from more than one discipline to explore them through research. Traditional fields of knowledge have become so subspecialized that teams, not individuals, are now the units to advance knowledge. Yet institutions and individuals are usually poorly equipped and organized to address these challenges. They often still exist in a dated mindset where different spheres of knowledge exist in hierarchies, not collaborative networks. The National Academies in the…

Cybersecurity Tabletop Exercises: From Planning to Execution

By Scott J. Pearson | November 23, 2024November 23, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Cybersecurity is a trending business topic due to the incredible growth of the IT industry and the Internet. It affects almost every professional domain, whether in the business, healthcare, or financial sectors. Perhaps the biggest risk facing companies today is having their IT systems compromised in some way involving secure data – a very broad vulnerability. To limit or prevent harm, a company’s leaders can engage in “tabletop exercises” to run through common scenarios. These…

Management-Business Program Management

Aligned: Stakeholder Management for Product Leaders

By Scott J. Pearson | November 21, 2024November 21, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Product management centers itself on coordinating several diverse, complex teams towards producing one coherent business product. It’s a fairly new role in organizations, and it’s especially popular in the IT sector. Software involves a disparate set of competencies, like writing code, graphical design, software design, marketing, customer relations, and subject matter expertise. A good product manager can act as a representative of a product’s “soul” to give voice to its essential human benefit. Alignment plays…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Putt’s Law & the Successful Technocrat: How to Win in the Information Age

By Scott J. Pearson | November 18, 2024November 18, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Great satirical works entertain while speaking deep truths. Like a court jester or Shakespeare’s comedies, humor can often unmask human nature where polite conversation can only obscure. Thus, when approached thoughtfully, jokes play an invaluable role to any thinking person. At their best, they can correct overly genteel approaches to problems. This book, written by a pseudonymous author, does just that. It speaks foundational truths about engineering organizations with a realism that surpasses more respectful…

History Society

Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families

By Scott J. Pearson | November 15, 2024November 15, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Family is a bedrock of human civilization. After all, it’s where we first learn to care for ourselves, work for others, and socialize among each other. However, life is not always easy on families, and many eventually separate as time proceeds. Separation often takes a heavy toll. For those who suffered under slavery, dehumanizing conditions continually forced separations among spouses, parents, and children. On top of that, the Civil War caused a social upheaval that’s…

Software-Technology

Modern Software Engineering: Doing What Works to Build Better Software Faster

By Scott J. Pearson | November 13, 2024November 13, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Software engineering is a relatively young discipline that’s rapidly evolving. What practices moved software forward thirty years ago are different from what moves them today. Today, most software requires continual-release techniques in the era of Internet speed. In this book, David Farley, an expert in that area and one seasoned in business practices, brings the field up to date with practices that work. Modern Software Engineering provides a good summary informed by reading, personal practice,…

Software-Technology

UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language

By Scott J. Pearson | November 10, 2024November 10, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Unified Modeling Language (UML) models how software and technology are designed. Unfortunately, its committee-derived specifications are too long and too detailed for most software developers to parse. This book distills that complexity into a series of simple instructions alongside graphics. These graphics can easily serve as starters or quick interpretive guides for thorny situations. Additionally, Martin Fowler, a UML veteran, offers sage advice to help the reader know what’s most essential and what can be…

Software-Technology

Learning UML 2.0: A Programatic Introduction to UML

By Scott J. Pearson | November 7, 2024November 8, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the best standardized way to graphically depict a complex software system. It makes a technical language of glyphs to portray software integrations so that large software efforts can be more easily understood by developers. Certifications exist that allow individuals to support UML professionally. As a developer, the main problem I have with UML is that it itself is complex, often too onerous for my efforts. I deal with complex software,…

Psychology

Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

By Scott J. Pearson | November 4, 2024November 4, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Teachers are often taught different learning styles as channels to reach other students. Workplace leaders, however, often don’t have a deep background in education. Yet they are tasked with challenges in communication that require that they address wide swaths of people, who usually think differently than them. In this book, Dawna Markova and Angie McArthur educate readers about how to apply ideas about learning styles to the modern workplace with the hope of increasing the…

Indie Management-Business Program Management

Practical Project Stakeholder Management: Methods, Tools & Templates for Comprehensive Stakeholder Management

By Scott J. Pearson | November 2, 2024November 2, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

There aren’t a ton of books available on coaching how to manage stakeholders while managing a project towards success. This independently published book attempts to fill that gap by providing a series of methods and tools to those new to the practice. First the strengths: The book indeed delivers as advertised by including most common practices for managing stakeholders. It explains them well and provides examples of documentation. It reads like an internal training document…