The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

In traditional software development environments, organizational hierarchies have revolved around the C.E.O or president of the company in a top-down approach. Decisions are made at higher levels, and subsequently filtered down to Product Line Managers, Project Managers, and lastly, Software Engineers and Programmers. This is not necessarily the case – in fact, the hightech industry has inadvertently put programmers and engineers in charge. Programmers and engineers run the show and end up being “back-seat drivers” for product development. This is the essence of Alan Cooper’s book, “The Inmates Are Running The Asylum”.