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Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

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Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#101

Post by madhadron »

bakenator wrote: post #30

When managing people in tech, I think it is equally as important to know how to organize as it is to know how to lead. I would recommend "The Phoenix Project" and "The Unicorn Project" and "The Goal" to all tech managers. No matter how good your communication/leadership skills are, your team will be severely handicapped if they are working in an inefficient/limiting environment. Coming at the same lessons from a diff…

> I would recommend "The Phoenix Project" and "The Unicorn Project" and "The Goal" to all tech managers.

Goldratt's "The Goal" and its sequels are interesting reading, but please, please internalize the principles he was arguing from for the theory of constraints before trying to apply it to software. Otherwise you end up with "The Pheonix Project" (whose author is apparently making a nice living as a snake oil process consultant, according to friends who have dealt with his appearance in companies) which is the "software factory" mess of the 1980's rewarmed and shoved out the door again. Rather, go read Deming's "The New Economy" (just ignore the section on intrinsic/extrinsic motivation).

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#103

Post by 0003 »

charliepark wrote: post #51

The US Army has an exceptionally well-crafted field manual on leadership. No fluff, but also no chest-thumping. It's honestly the best resource I've ever seen on what constitutes a good leader, how good leaders are developed, and how good leaders develop their teams. Being a DOD publication, it's in the public domain: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CD... I can't stress enough how excellent…

You listen to Jocko podcast by any chance?

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#104

Post by gleb »

KineticLensman wrote: post #92
charliepark wrote: post #51

The US Army has an exceptionally well-crafted field manual on leadership. No fluff, but also no chest-thumping. It's honestly the best resource I've ever seen on what constitutes a good leader, how good leaders are developed, and how good leaders develop their teams. Being a DOD publication, it's in the public domain: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CD... I can't stress enough how excellent…

I don’t have a reference available but the concept of ‘Mission Command’ used by the UK Army amongst others contains the best and most succinct description I’ve seen of how to delegate a task to a subordinate. And is perfectly suited to many civilian situations as well. From memory, and paraphrasing, it boils down to State what you, as the leader, are trying to achieve, and why ('the big picture') State what you want…

This is great. Would love to read a longer version from where this comes from.

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#106

Post by looping__lui »

rusk wrote: post #82

I think "Team Geek" [0] is probably worth a mention in this light. It's written in that infuriating cutesy techy-language that seems to infuse a lot of the "hipper" books of this genre but there really is some good advice in there. FYI these are the guys that did Subversion, which was a pretty successful project for a while, back in the day. This same writing style pervades the SVN docs as well. Yeuch. In the same ve…

Yes, totally agree.

Imho one of the best books out there on the topic.

Also: “The Hard Thing About Hard Things”

Beyond managing teams, you probably will need to cope with politics as well. “The 48 Laws of Power” are a good start...

It is also worth understanding how asymmetry works in the business world: give Taleb’s “Antifragile”

I think managing teams has always to be seen in the culture of the respective company. Good managers make sure they position their teams for high-impact (depending on what high impact is), get the resources they need and the credit they deserve. All that has almost 0 to do with how to lead people but will probably determine success like no other factor...

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#108

Post by chrisguitarguy »

leothekim wrote: post #3

Try "The Manager's Path" by Camille Fournier. http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do

Seconded, this is a great book.

I think all non-managers should read it as well as it will give you some clarity on what you should expect from your manager and what their day-to-day is like.

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#109

Post by KKKKkkkk1 »

charliepark wrote: post #51

The US Army has an exceptionally well-crafted field manual on leadership. No fluff, but also no chest-thumping. It's honestly the best resource I've ever seen on what constitutes a good leader, how good leaders are developed, and how good leaders develop their teams. Being a DOD publication, it's in the public domain: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CD... I can't stress enough how excellent…

The military is an org that has a chain of command in which strict adherence to orders from your superiors is a question of life and death. I don't know if it's a good idea that managers in an office environment attempt to emulate the military.
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