The COVID pandemic forced the global workforce to become used to working from home, and many of us transitioned there permanently. I grew up with my professor-father often working from home in the evenings and trudged through graduate school studying and writing in a home office. Thus, working from home was not entirely new to me. In 2013, when this book was written, this idea was still a relatively fresh management technique, and this short…
Entrepreneurship draws people who aren’t afraid of taking risks and who are willing to put in the work. However, this field also has its share of pitfalls… like not being able to transform work requests into work for others. Leaders often get to their positions by getting things done. The practice of leadership, however, often means letting others get things done. The handoff process is called delegation. In this book, Emily Morgan dissects this topic…
Managing software engineering efforts is a difficult task. One needs a thorough knowledge of authoring software, which itself is a rare, time-consuming accomplishment. Almost all general managers do not have an in-depth knowledge of programming (though many assume they do!). A few of the best software developers are promoted into a managerial role and have to figure out what to do on the job. Much literature on general management topics exists, but few writings center…
It’s January 1, and one of my New Year’s resolutions is to learn to say “no” more often and more effectively. To accomplish this, I’m reading several books on delegation. This book, short and inexpensive, seemed like a good place to start. Brian Tracy offers a broad overview of how to delegate and supervise work accomplished by a team. He communicates his message in a clear, accessible, and succinct manner. The book offers a good…
When approached with an issue, most of us instinctively respond with doling out advice. We assume that people want to use our expertise. However, many of the best leaders have a different response: curiosity about the other person. They ask questions to empower the people around them to make better decisions. After all, the question-askers are the ones closest to the issues, not the one being questioned. In this book, Michael Bungay Stanier seeks to…
Since computers and digital technology have become so ubiquitous in contemporary life, creating good software and technology products has become an important business function. Many (exceeding 50%) technology products fail, despite significant design, engineering, and financial efforts. How can we make this process more efficient and profitable? That’s the job of a relatively new job title: the product manager. In this book, Marty Cagan discusses how to fulfill this role in an organization so that…
This classic study from 1959 describes, better than everyone else why modern men work beyond economic subsistence. Because it focuses only on men, it’s limited in a gender-diverse workplace, but because it studies two diverse occupations – accountants and engineers – it remains fairly generalizable. It concludes that the main reason people dislike their workplace is mismanaged environmental factors. But it also concludes that managing environmental factors properly does not positively motivate people to work.…
A pipe dream in college students is that your boss will always agree with your professional direction as you free yourself from teachers. The realities of the workplace often shatter this puerile dream. A boss’s personality quirks can sometimes drive their direct reports crazy. Mary Abbajay seeks to identify these personality traits and suggest adjustment strategies so that workers can get on with succeeding at their careers. I fully support the concept of managing up.…
Many books on managing software development focus on small subsets of the management process. For example, many books on agile fill bookstores; others propose a well-studied answer to a particular problem; still others provide anecdotes and inspiration to often-overtaxed managers. This book fits into none of those categories. Instead, it seeks to provide a comprehensive treatment on how to manage software development by managing individuals instead of processes. This modern approach fits more in line…
Regular performance reviews are part-and-parcel of just about every managed venture. They mark successes of direct reports while charting next steps towards a future path. Unfortunately, these reviews can sometime turn into routine affairs. In this case, feedback is not always useful; worse is when it doesn’t even strike a chord but instead discourages the employee. In this short book, business professor Steve King suggests a simple method to improve conversations in performance reviews. As…