Earlier quoted context omitted.
Peopleware is in fact the best I've ever read. The problems of an organization are very rarely technical, and are almost certainly the people.
So you're saying they're always people who lack certainty?
Oh you - fixed.
Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
61–70 of 159 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#62Not an article but this oft-linked HN comment from Slava Akhmechet is very accurate about how subordinates' motives can sabotage your intended goals and objectives : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18003253
Haha, wow, I remember reading this when it was written. I do think it's probably a bit too cynical though, probably colored by the author's own world-view and personal experience. I do think that some companies are just filled with BS; don't get me wrong. But I think that there are also a subset of companies who are filled with people trying their best, but who are making mistakes and/or being incompetent in a way that looks like the active sabotage that OP is describing. I think when there's a power imbalance it's easy to ascribe every non-perfect action by people above you to be some act of self-interest, when in reality it isn't always true that everyone has a secret ulterior motive.
> From the founders's perspective the org is basically an overactive genie. It will do what you say, but not what you mean. Want to increase sales in two quarters? No problem, sales increased. Oh, and we also subtly destroyed our customers's trust. Once the stakes are high, founders basically have to treat their org as an adversarial agent. You might think -- but a good founder will notice! Doesn't matter how good you are -- you've selected world class politicians that are good at getting past your exact psychological makeup.
This is a particularly good quote!
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#63Bizarrely, I found the book Corps Business, by Freedman, to be useful. It's about how the US Marine Corps thinks about leadership. No, he doesn't tell you to shout at people. But he does show how they lead in more difficult circumstances than most of us will ever encounter, and how they help people from wildly different backgrounds work together.
Speaking of learning from people with completely different perspectives, if you want to learn about public speaking, read Do You Talk Funny?, by Nihill. The thesis is that good standup comedians are the best public speakers, and that we can learn their techniques. Much of what they do well has nothing to do with being funny.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
The best managers/leaders I've had in this vein are sufficiently recognised for their part in the performance of their team. Wouldn't it be a small red flag about an organisation if this wasn't the case?
Will your next workplace value all the effort you spent that way? Are the servant tasks even what you want to spend your time with? I am not suggesting that the answer to those questions has to be "no". But good to think about it.
Interesting questions.
> Will your next workplace value all the effort you spent that way?
I'd hope so - as it's reasonable to assume that a next role for someone already managing/leading would involve more management/leadership. So yes, skills/achievements/examples in that area should be valued.
> Are the servant tasks even what you want to spend your time with?
It's probably not for everyone; but if someone doesn't want to perform the tasks that (many would say) are necessary to be a good manager/leader, maybe they shouldn't be in a manager/leader position in the first place?
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#65The Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome ( https://hbr.org/1998/03/the-set-up-to-fail-syndrome ) is a great resource for how to handle situations where you feel an employee is underperforming.
Had never heard of this. This is a great article on how to be a poor manager.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#66Just a meta-comment - if you're new to all this, it's good to know that management != leadership. If you're starting out, you'll want to learn both, and you'll need both. More practically, here's a fun blog where you can ask specific questions: https://www.askamanager.org/
Leadership is a seductive concept, but in the main, leadership = management - work. In a healthy engineering culture, a management goal should be enabling the maximum number of people to exercise their own leadership. Even the newfangled concept of "servant leadership" is premised on a separation of agency between those who "serve/lead" and those who "are served/led". Effective management --- do not groan before I fi…
> But if you're looking to learn how to be a good engineering manager, I'm not sure how much "leadership" has to do with doing a good job.
Your whole comment is spot on, but I think there's a trap here. Yes, an EM should be empowering as many IC leaders as possible, but that can't be done if the EM does not recognize true leadership. While it's theoretically possible to succeed as a manager leveraging others without having your own true tech lead chops, the majority of managers like this end up either putting too much trust in the wrong ICs or (worse) devolve into cover-your-ass "agile" process bullshit.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#6715 years ago, RandsInRepose.com wrote a lot of interesting blog posts on management, and then turned them into books: https://randsinrepose.com/archives/
The article about types of one on ones has stuck with me: https://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-update-the-vent-and-t...
oh dear..
i wish one day i have such a Manager.. before i'm dead anyway (~40y making sw.. still some more to go). i am under "CTO"-label now but that does not make any difference..
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
^ THIS. Where I’ve worked, there has been a severe degradation over time of actual leaders, and an increase in managers who have no clue how to lead or inspire. One thing I have oriented myself to doing is being a servant leader. As I told one team I led, “I’m your bitch. Tell me where your rocks are and I’ll move them out of the way so you can get your work done.” And then I do exactly that. I’ve had to work miracle…
My experience regarding the servant manager is that it is really important that you also figure out what is in it for you. There is a big risk that your career stops at that - being a servant.
At the risk of sounding glib, in "startup world" (the sector of the tech industry characterized mostly by companies between 100-1000 people large) there are two career tracks:
(1) The track you get on by demonstrating viability in roles of escalating seniority, such as by leaving a Sr. Manager job for a Director job.
(2) The track you get on by having an easily observable or articulable track record of getting important (or at least interesting) things done.
Ruthlessly working "track 1" may rule out "serving" a team (and at the same time rationalizing that by avoiding that "trap" you're "serving" the broader company mission), but that mindset practically rules out progression on "track 2".
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#69Its not an article but here are some books:
Strengths finder 2.0 Rework Deep work Rick Rubins book Start with why
Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience regarding the servant manager is that it is really important that you also figure out what is in it for you. There is a big risk that your career stops at that - being a servant.
This is a strange comment. Everyone in a corporate structure is a servant. How you advance is by demonstrating that you are helping solve the problems deemed important by your chain of command. Theoretically this should be aligned from top to bottom; in practice competing priorities, communication overhead, and incompetence in the wrong places can greatly distort things. This reality leads a lot of folks into learned…
Your answer is reasonable but I don't agree that it is a "strange comment" as you say.
Is it not possible to see yourself as having thought too much about maximizing your companys success without thinking about your own needs?
I wouldnt qualify this as toxic. And they can go alongside if you make it clear for yourself and your manager.