Software engineers stereotypically have the personality type to stay behind their desks and not socialize too much. Their coding skills, so the story goes, facilitate their contribution to the company, not their finessing of humans. However, if they are ever promoted to a manager, they quickly have to pivot to understanding how to get their needs from subordinates who don’t always seek after managerial social approval. Not everyone is successful with this transition, but once they’ve read Lopp’s book, they can’t say that they aren’t aware of its inherent challenges.
For almost two decades, Lopp has worked in Silicon Valley for companies like Borland and Apple along with start ups. He has worked both as a developer and a manager of developers. He explains that coding is the easy part of his skillset compared to managing humans. In this book inspired by his popular blog (RandsInRepose.com), he shares insights from his experiences to others interested in the management of software engineers.
Managing Humans is not a textbook of concepts or principles, but rather more of a memoir of management that dives into ideas. As alluded to in the subtitle, Lopp possesses a dry wit that brings out human in nuances of human behavior. Each chapter seems to be built upon a core blog post and thus is simultaneously concise and direct. Nothing he says struck me as particularly groundbreaking, but to those used to the stability of a computer, insights about human relationships can be difficult to access. Reading Lopp can address those deficits of skills.
I listened to this book as an audiobook while I drove around. That practice suited this book fairly well. I’m not sure I would recommend to read it as work of print because the blog-like tone makes it not intellectually weighty enough to carry a central idea through to completion. It’s more of a devotional for software engineers. Indeed, its audience seems limited only to those in the IT industry. Managers and aspiring managers will benefit the most, but all software developers can enhance their people skills by these tales. Plus, they’re just plain entertaining to listen to!
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager
By Michael Lopp
Narrated by TJ Johnson
Third Edition
Upfront Books
Copyright (c) 2016
ISBN13 9781484221570
Length: 5:40
Genre: Business/Management, Software/Technology
www.amazon.com