61–70 of 84 posts
He's been writing on Management for 4 decades and he's opened my eyes to what management is about. http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Henry-Mintzberg/dp/1605098744
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> get a mentor Seems easier said than done. I wouldn't want to share details of what I do with random people. Probably not with coworkers either unless it's strictly related to the job at hand, but at that point the advice they can give you is also more limited. Also, you need to find someone with more experience than you, so you don't have much to bring to the deal. > Books are wonderful but nothing beats interactin…
I can't agree more with Kator's comment. Find a mentor - maybe pay for a business coach if you want but you would probably be able to find an experienced serial entrepreneur in your industry after one or two conferences. I would however start today not with a book but a clean sheet of paper. Take a long hard look at you, your decisions and imagine explaining it all to a judge in five years time. What bits will you be…
The first thing I ask when I start coaching someone is what are your goals with your career? In my career I can literally boil it down to four points:
1) Passion
2) Leadership
3) Compensation
4) Hybrid (Tech + Business)
At any time in my career I can score these 1-5 (5 being best) and the closer I get to 20 the better I feel. That said this is just the "what's your motivation" phase, next comes the "what's standing in your way" phase where you look deeply at your strengths and weaknesses and see how they block your ability to receive what you're looking for in your career. Then comes the "ok so now what" phase where you start setting goals to help shore up your weaknesses and magnify your strengths. Then it's "rinse and repeat" basically measure, adjust and execute.
Honestly I would get a mentor. Find someone either in your org or out of your org that has the skills and career you would like to work towards and start talking to them. If you hit it off you may have found someone who can help you through the bumpy parts of your career and help you plan your next steps. Some people charge for this as career coaching and that can also have some value but it's challenging to sort out…
> get a mentor Seems easier said than done. I wouldn't want to share details of what I do with random people. Probably not with coworkers either unless it's strictly related to the job at hand, but at that point the advice they can give you is also more limited. Also, you need to find someone with more experience than you, so you don't have much to bring to the deal. > Books are wonderful but nothing beats interactin…
> Seems easier said than done.
Point made, it's work, and successful people will tell you that the road ahead is full of work. Take the challenge, figure out how to find and develop a trusting relation with someone who will be able to help you progress in your career.
> Probably not with coworkers either..
Yes I would suggest outside the org or if the org is big enough someone who isn't directly up your reporting tree. At one job I picked an exec who had lot more experience then me but he was in finance so he wasn't worried about my motivations, I didn't want his job nor did he want mine.
Go on to reading the Toyota management style in itself, there's a couple of books about it, that's what many IT techiques are getting their ideas from.
It's mostly about finding your values so to speak and pinpoint what you really think makes up a good software development company - maybe your focus will be on organization, maybe on other things, so get an overview first.
These two articles are hopefully also an interesting nudge to think about many things:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137708/Opinion_The_u...
http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-lin...
O'Reilly has a very interesting book with analysis which practices actually work and why/how - sadly I also forget the title. There's for example a chapter about when and why pair programming works and when and why not.
Also, just watch carefully and learn to notice "good organization" - happens in surprising corners and niches and try to see WHY it's good.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> get a mentor Seems easier said than done. I wouldn't want to share details of what I do with random people. Probably not with coworkers either unless it's strictly related to the job at hand, but at that point the advice they can give you is also more limited. Also, you need to find someone with more experience than you, so you don't have much to bring to the deal. > Books are wonderful but nothing beats interactin…
I can't agree more with Kator's comment. Find a mentor - maybe pay for a business coach if you want but you would probably be able to find an experienced serial entrepreneur in your industry after one or two conferences. I would however start today not with a book but a clean sheet of paper. Take a long hard look at you, your decisions and imagine explaining it all to a judge in five years time. What bits will you be…
This is an interesting corollary to my "never lie" - and if you have any cultural affect on the company push for "failure is good if we fail fast and learn from it"
Enjoy
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't agree more with Kator's comment. Find a mentor - maybe pay for a business coach if you want but you would probably be able to find an experienced serial entrepreneur in your industry after one or two conferences. I would however start today not with a book but a clean sheet of paper. Take a long hard look at you, your decisions and imagine explaining it all to a judge in five years time. What bits will you be…
Spot on, for sure a mentor is great but introspection is a powerful tool. The first thing I ask when I start coaching someone is what are your goals with your career? In my career I can literally boil it down to four points: 1) Passion 2) Leadership 3) Compensation 4) Hybrid (Tech + Business) At any time in my career I can score these 1-5 (5 being best) and the closer I get to 20 the better I feel. That said this is…
Also totally behind the rating on a five point scale.
Start with the "classics" like "mystical man month" (Brooks) for example, then get many of the books by Tom de Marco and possibly read Richard Gabriel's "Patterns of Software". The book about the "Chandler" project (forgot it's title) is also a particular good read. Those two in particular are interesting reads about why things fail. Go on to reading the Toyota management style in itself, there's a couple of books ab…
Dreaming in Code, by Scott Rosenberg. Highest recommendation. 10x coders hired by visionary engineer to scratch their own itch. What could go wrong?
In a senior role, effective communication becomes more important. One of the best books I've read about how to communicate effectively is http://www.amazon.com/The-Pyramid-Principle-Writing-Thinking... It introduces a specific method to write concise, effective business documents. Then it shows how you can use the method to critique your own thinking.
Finally, one late night, sitting across from my managing director (the leader of a prestigious boutique pharma-consulting firm), I asked him rather bluntly, "How did you learn to speak so well?" He gave me a rather blank stare, and thought for a little while. "Ah!" he exclaimed, jumping up from his desk and darting over to his bookcase. After a little rummaging, lo and behold, he pulled out an old copy of the Pyramid Principle. I leafed through the book and found a number of notes and highlights as he explained to me that what I held was the single most influential book he'd ever read. He told me to read it, not as a way to structure presentations or emails (although it helps there), but as a new lifestyle. Fold the ideas and principles into your very being, so as to become second nature, and you'll never have trouble communicating again.
It's a must-read book.
It sounds like you've taken the most important step, which is appreciating that "what got you here won't get you there". One of my favorite books when stepping into a new role is M. Watkins, "The First 90 Days", which is very helpful in formalizing an effective approach to succeeding quickly when in a new management role. It is worth trying to get some education in people management. While much of it is common-sense,…
In startups, human interaction is most important more so than a huge corporation because both employee and employer needs to understand the importance of each other. Make sure you treat them right and make sure they are excited,valued and well treated.
Get a mentor, you need to keep them engaged, request with specific questions, ask for suggestions. No one wants to receive a specific mail asking me to be a mentor. they would rather send a note/ give a suggestion which will help you.
All the very best for you and company, and keep us posted on how your journey is.
Start with the "classics" like "mystical man month" (Brooks) for example, then get many of the books by Tom de Marco and possibly read Richard Gabriel's "Patterns of Software". The book about the "Chandler" project (forgot it's title) is also a particular good read. Those two in particular are interesting reads about why things fail. Go on to reading the Toyota management style in itself, there's a couple of books ab…