I am reading The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World, by Christopher Duncan (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590590082 ), and I think this might be the response to your question. It's about learning and dealing with the realities of workplace politics in the tech industry, and acquiring tactics to be able to deal with and even manage the behaviors of management in such a way as to attempt to get the maximum time for coding and to be left alone while you code. Unlike a lot of "methodology" books, Duncan accepts that management is rarely going to accept a complex design methodology because they mainly care about getting money (which you should care about too, since it's your paycheck), and promotes a view that is both realistic and pro-programmer (he is a long-time contract programmer). I think it is a good step towards finding the common ground you describe. The book is written in a very entertaining style, as well.
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I am reading The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World, by Christopher Duncan (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590590082 ), and I think this might be the response to your question. It's about learning and dealing with the realities of workplace politics in the tech industry, and acquiring tactics to be able to deal with and even manage the behaviors of management in such a way as to attempt to get the maximum time for coding and to be left alone while you code. Unlike a lot of "methodology" books, Duncan accepts that management is rarely going to accept a complex design methodology because they mainly care about getting money (which you should care about too, since it's your paycheck), and promotes a view that is both realistic and pro-programmer (he is a long-time contract programmer). I think it is a good step towards finding the common ground you describe. The book is written in a very entertaining style, as well.
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