management – Page 3 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Let It Go!: How to (Finally) Master Delegation & Scale Freedom Across Your Organization

By Scott J. Pearson | January 12, 2024September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

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…

Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager: How to Be the Leader Your Development Team Needs

By Scott J. Pearson | January 4, 2024January 4, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

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…

Management-Business

Delegation & Supervision

By Scott J. Pearson | January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

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…

Leadership Management-Business Mentoring

The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

By Scott J. Pearson | October 24, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

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…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love

By Scott J. Pearson | October 15, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

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…

Management-Business Psychology

The Motivation to Work by Frederick Herzberg

By Scott J. Pearson | October 14, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

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.…

Management-Business

Managing Up: How to Move Up, Win at Work & Succeed with Any Type of Boss

By Scott J. Pearson | September 29, 2023September 29, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

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.…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools & Insights for Managing Software People & Teams

By Scott J. Pearson | September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

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…

Management-Business Mentoring

Brag, Worry, Wonder, Bet: A Manager’s Guide to Giving Feedback

By Scott J. Pearson | September 13, 2023September 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

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…

Management-Business

The Feedback Fix: Dump the Past, Embrace the Future & Lead the Way to Change

By Scott J. Pearson | September 10, 2023September 10, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Feedback comprises a crucial part of leading people under you. Your feedback to them and their feedback to you provide a means to improve. Yet with how it’s conducted in many places, feedback in the form of reviews and grades can induce more anxiety than improvement. Giving effective feedback and receiving effective feedback are separate but vital skills. In this book, Joe Hirsch seeks to make feedback from managers and teachers more effective by unlocking…