Ask HN: Literature on software engineer management for a non-technical company?
The context of this question is rather straightforward. A good friend of mine is the sole developer at a small graphics design studio which is increasingly doing web app development. The owner of the company is a traditionally-trained designer, and there are significant communication and management problems.<p>Examples include the owner giving quotes and timelines to a client for changes that seem simple to someone who considers only the visual aspect of a web app, but that may require a complete technical overhaul of that app&#x27;s architecture. On the other side, the programmer, being inexperienced in larger projects, often has difficulty with providing estimates which include the omnipresent &quot;unforeseen difficulties&quot;.<p>The situation is that everyone - owner, developer, and client - are frustrated. In particular, my friend has dealt with very high levels of stress out of failing to deliver on unrealistic timelines - which he sometimes does not even recognize as unrealistic.<p>All of my googling so far has yielded only literature on managing software development companies and similar.<p>Is there any good literature on managing software development by a non-technical manager at a company that is not a software company? Recommendations would be highly appreciated; thank you in advance.