World Famous Comics: Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager
By: Michael Lopp Publisher: Apress Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Apress Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 209 Publication Date: June 12, 2007
Managing Humans is a selection of the best essays from Michael Lopps web site, Rands In Repose. Drawing on Lopp's management experiences at Apple, Netscape, Symantec, and Borland, this book is full of stories based on companies in the Silicon Valley where people have been known to yell at each other. It is a place full of dysfunctional bright people who are in an incredible hurry to find the next big thing so they can strike it rich and then do it all over again. Among these people are managers, a strange breed of people who through a mystical organizational ritual have been given power over your future and your bank account. Whether you're an aspiring manager, a current manager, or just wondering what the heck a manager does all day, there is a story in this book that will speak to you. You will learn:
What to do when people start yelling at each other
How to perform a diving save when the best engineer insists on resigning
How to say "No" to the person who signs your paycheck
Among fans of Michael Lopp is the incomparable Joel Spolsky, cofounder and CEO of Fog Creek Software:
"What you're holding in your hands in by far the most brilliant book about managing software teams you're ever going to find".
This book is designed for managers and would-be managers staring at the role of a manager wondering why they would ever leave the safe world of bits and bites for the messy world of managing humans. The book covers handling conflict, managing wildly differing personality types, infusing innovation into insane product schedules, and figuring out how to build a lasting and useful engineering culture.
Fun read, with some real management jems. This book was recommend to me by an engineer I trust. The idea was "read this, because this is what a software/systems engineer thinks managers should be more like".
I found the book witty, intelligent and an easy read.
Also, through most of the chapters I took some great notes and "gotcha's" about management and have been applying them as much as I can.
Recommended reading for any manager who has a group of "individuals" and rock stars working for them in a fast-paced software environment -- OR -- for anyone who likes funny, management self-help books.
Definitely not the best book on management I've read a couple of Rand's posts on his blog and thought it'd be nice to be able to read the edited, reviewed and improved paper version... I should have saved my money. It's not that the book is useless, but it doesn't adds to much value to the blog posts. Also, not all chapters are worth reading, so you pay for a lot of bad stuff too.
How to cope with your job This book is not usual management book for managers, it's more about how to survive in organizational hell: how to cope with people, processes and yourself. It is equally useful for managers, developers, testers, whoever works in IT environment. There are interesting stories about finding top talent, keeping your job in layoff or outsourcing, how to resign and etc. Fun book to read.
Funny, down to earth, and Informative I and a Flash Developer and stumbled across Rand's blog and read the nerd handbook. Man, he had be pegged on more things than I would like to admit. From there I explored some of his other popular articles and eventually I was sold on buying his book.
I found his writing to be very insightful, educational, and witty. It was a pleasure to read and I feel that I am more prepared for my future business endeavors.
If you have any doubt, please check out his blog. Many of the chapters can be found there.
Book Title & Chapter Titles Are The Funniest Part I am still reading the book and I find the information useful. I am a bit let down though because I found the book's and its chapter titles to be very funny. However, the stories are not as funny.
Overall, the book has useful information and is very easy to read. Just not as funny as I thought it would be.
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