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Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

#131

Post by dilyevsky »

in9 wrote: post #127
dilyevsky wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peopleware doesn’t get the love it deserves these days. I mentioned tom demarco to my vp of eng at former gig and they clearly didn’t know wtf i was talking about… When i was picking up some team lead responsibilities for the first time, it was the first book suggested by my then mentor who was an experienced manager.

IDK, I read some reviews about this book and it seemed to be written for a time before remote work. It looked overly worried about office organization and dynamics. Is it true? Because those ideas made ti fall in my priority list form management reading.

There are parts that are outdated like advocating against dress codes or cmm but overall no

Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

#133

Post by insickness »

mark_undoio wrote: post #23

I'm a big fan of Turn the Ship Around! By L. David Marquet as fun read that shows what some good leadership can do by pushing responsibility to the lowest appropriate level in an organisation. https://davidmarquet.com/turn-the-ship-around-book/ The anecdotes are good fun. I've not used it specifically as a model but I like the general principles it represents.

Great animated 10 minute video of him summarizing his ideas: https://youtu.be/OqmdLcyES_Q?si=fljPKtgaU9XoHczZ

Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

#134

Post by jyunwai »

lucumo wrote: post #128
mark_undoio wrote: post #23

I'm a big fan of Turn the Ship Around! By L. David Marquet as fun read that shows what some good leadership can do by pushing responsibility to the lowest appropriate level in an organisation. https://davidmarquet.com/turn-the-ship-around-book/ The anecdotes are good fun. I've not used it specifically as a model but I like the general principles it represents.

I liked that book too. One problem I have with it, and with many similar books, is that it tells managers to move to a less directive way of steering people. This is very good for quite a lot of existing managers. But it's not very good advice for non-established leaders. If, for example, you're not very assertive anyway, you might find that everybody has already taken the authority to do whatever they want. In that…

I've also found through experience that it's helpful to tailor your management style depending on the person you are managing.

I worked with a person (in the same work position as me at the time, so I judged he was giving an honest opinion) who said that he strongly prefers managers who give specific and detailed instructions for tasks, instead of leaving most of the specifics up to him. If I remember correctly, this is the opposite reaction to that of a sailor mentioned in a book's anecdote. The author mentioned giving a command to a sailor for something that the sailor was likely going to do, but realized after the fact that the instruction reduced the sailor's autonomy, and thus eroded his job satisfaction. However, my past colleague would have reacted differently and wouldn't have minded—he likely would have even appreciated the clear direction.

So, some of the ideas of the book do not apply universally to all people. A person in a leadership role should instead adapt one's communication style—while still acting with respect and fairness to each person—depending on a team member's preferences and personality. Having a direct conversation with a person about their preferences, in most contexts where you are viewed as trustworthy, can be useful if there is uncertainty.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

#136

Post by notjustanymike »

scrapcode wrote: post #5
notjustanymike wrote: post #3

Not an article, but I do frequently recommend the following: Multipliers - an excellent book on how to avoid becoming a stereotypical bad boss. Chapters are easy to read independently and have great summaries at the end. Crucial Conversations - good for both professional and personal conversations. Learn how to have a difficult conversation without burning down the relationship. Finally, look up SOON (acronym) for wh…

Difficult to find anything meaningful for "SOON" in G. Can you elaborate?

It's a process you follow to stop yourself from answering the question for them.

Ask them to define success, what the obstacles are to it, what their options are to overcome it, and immediate next steps to take.

Basically a modern version of "teach a man to fish".

Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

#138

Post by __turbobrew__ »

mrj wrote: post #105
smcin wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how the US Marine Corps thinks about leadership. Can you give specifics? Does it primarily apply to people in heavily authoritarian-type management cultures? I don't expect that persuasion and gradually building consensus are big themes. > how they help people from wildly different backgrounds work together. Specifics please? > Do You Talk Funny?, by Nihill. The thesis is that good standup comedians are the best pu…

> Can you give specifics? Does it primarily apply to people in heavily authoritarian-type management cultures? I don't expect that persuasion and gradually building consensus are big themes. The Marines think about leadership very differently than that. Sure, parts are authoritarian, but most people are surprised to learn that training to be an independent thinker starts in boot camp. They don't even tell you how to…

Management by objective

Re: Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

#139

Post by tmoravec »

Centigonal wrote: post #115
tmoravec wrote: post #51

I’m reading some articles on managing people all the time (mostly from Software Lead Weekly newsletter). And recently, I’ve opened Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice to read a few chapters on a problem I’m facing at work. And WOW a proper book on the topic is SOOO much better than any random article that I find, be it from SWLW, HN, Reddit, or any other source. Articles and posts are easy to l…

How applicable is Armstrong for folks in the USA? The amazon reviews suggest it's specific to UK laws and regulations.

I'm in the EU and it seems plenty applicable but perhaps UK and EU are more similar than UK and US.

I have read maybe 50% of the book only (there's no point in reading these things cover to cover) and haven't noticed many things specific to any particular laws or regulations. Performance management faces the same challenges in all markets. Knowledge management has the same principles everywhere. And so on.

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