Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager | 
|  | | | Title: | Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager | | Author: | Michael Lopp | | Publisher: | Apress | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 12 June, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 159059844X / 9781590598443 | | List Price: | $24.99 | | You Save: | $8.50 | | Amazon Price: | $16.49 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews:
• Wasted My Time And Money 06 August, 2008
this is the first review i write, and yes it is because i was really upset at myself for getting this book. it is a random collection of paragraph. no "biting tale", no insight, only a failed attempt to "wow" people with boring stories. nothing to be learned, except that without ideas or writing skills one can still make money out of a book
- Reviewed by customer ID: AJ36T7I6YP24H
• Angry 24 August, 2008
While this book has some very good insights about management that are right on, the relentless use of angry and derogatory terms to describe everyone from managers to subordinates leaves me exasperated and cold. While humans, or should I say people, have their issues, I prefer to see the inherent value, humor, fun and value that each person has. These good qualities that human beings have are what make management an interesting and enjoyable job.
I've yet to find a management book this is not either boring or whining. This book gave me hope when I started it because it was funny and lively, but descends into repetitive negativity that would make anyone want to run away screaming.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3930NKRSFJ2NW
• Insightful And Enjoyable 29 July, 2008
While I learned a great deal from this book, as importantly, I enjoyed the read immensely. Michael knows very well that people learn through stories. This book is a collection of stories with analysis interspersed. I highly recommend this book for IT Managers looking to improve their leadership skills or IT engineers trying to figure out what makes their manager tick.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A30KMRA7S2RGB9
• The Title Should Be Managing Software Engineering Humans! 16 November, 2008
Living in a Software Engineering world, this book nailed it. Not everyone gets "1.0 Start-Up Tragedies". Perhaps it's something akin to Katrina. (You had to be there.) Beyond that he does a little physco-analysis of personality work approaches: incrementalist and completionists, manager (north and south) poles of organics and mechanics. It's not only funny and true-to-life, but upbeat. It might be a nice stocking stuffer for that new engineer in the family.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3JTU078KZZUE5
• Not A Book About Management 26 July, 2008
This book is supposed to be for aspiring managers, managers, and anyone who wants to know what a manager is. While it is definitely for the latter, it's not a book for managers or even aspiring managers. What I dislike most about the book is the self-important tone the author has. A lot of the content degrades in usefulness because the author assumes (or wants to believe) that the reader is really interested in him, not the lessons learned from his experiences. This is especially evident the third part, "Versions of You", where the author writes as if the reader will be impressed by the author's self-description (though this is thinly veiled by his constant reference to himself in the third-person, using his pseudonym "Rands").
The use of this pseudonym, "Rands" was puzzling by itself until I learned about how he started writing about his work experiences by blogging. In this light, things make a little more sense, as I could see how the book is just a collection of blog posts pulled together. The execution leaves a lot to be desired however, as the content jumps a lot, and successive chapters have little relation to each other. I can understand why one would want to use a pseudonym while blogging about work life, but using a pseudonym in a book when your real name is on the cover is silly.
Regardless, much of the book is written for people who want to understand software managers, which is much different than people who know anything about software or management, and want to hone their craft. There are a few interesting tidbits throughout the book, but they're scattered in between material I felt was irrelevant, or which I could barely continue reading because my eyes were rolling so much.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3Q3ICT3R45NF2
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