Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 69 posts

Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?

#1
I'm at this point in my career where I'm in a good groove improving my technical skills, but I'm starting to require more and more time into my softer skills (communication, negotiation, persuation, et al). What are your favorite resources (classes, websites, books, blogs) that you use to develop those skills?

Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?

#4
Always a risk to self-promote, but last month our team launched our Compass Platform - Behavioral Indicators and associated support to help business founders and leadership teams in private enterprise [1].

I've found these are more balanced, so work better than tools like DISC and Myers-Briggs, which tend to 'put people into a box' and therefore work against creating an inclusive environment.

The four soft skills these tools help me understand with my clients and prospective clients are Communication, Attitude to Risk, Role Preference (Entrepreneur Leader Manager), and Natural Pace (what pg calls Makers v Managers).

I've obviously done some training on these, and nowadays deliver (mostly internal company) training on them as well. The website and online tests are a great starting point - having an understanding of a potential client or recruit's Risk profile, for example, makes it so much easier to connect with them and explain a value proposition.

[1] http://www.shirlawscompass.com/

Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?

#5

I recommend "Soft Skills: A software developer's life manual" by John Sonmez http://www.manning.com/sonmez/

I own / read parts of that book. I found it lacking on advice about working within a company, there were two chapters on working within a company and then it dives into quitting your job and working on your brand.

Are there any other recommendations that have more information on working within a company?

Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?

#7

Always a risk to self-promote, but last month our team launched our Compass Platform - Behavioral Indicators and associated support to help business founders and leadership teams in private enterprise [1]. I've found these are more balanced, so work better than tools like DISC and Myers-Briggs, which tend to 'put people into a box' and therefore work against creating an inclusive environment. The four soft skills the…

Parent was downvoted with no comment, didn't seem unusually spammy so I at least upvoted it again.

I notice that even after my upvote it hadn't crossed 0 so it seems it wasn't a single downvote.

People: If you downvote others for non-obvious reasons, please leave a note on why.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?

#9
1) Tactical Office Politics

http://www.manager-tools.com/2013/04/politics-101-chapter-3-...

http://www.manager-tools.com/2013/05/politics-101-chapter-3-...

"This guidance probably should have been Chapter 1 of our Politics 101 series. It’s foundational. It’s a HUGE problem for many professionals, particularly young – and dare we say it, naïve – professionals. So many young people say, “I don’t ‘play politics.’” The more savvy folks around them think, that’s good, because this isn’t a ‘game’ you can ‘play.’ "

2) Improve human memory, reduce dependence on high-latency offboard storage (paper, web)

http://mt.artofmemory.com/wiki/Main_Page

3) GTD for Hackers, https://gtdfh.branchable.com

4) The language of organizational models/patterns. The book "Key Management Models" has a good overview, http://www.google.com/search?q=key%20management%20models. The 3rd edition has 75 org models which help when designing the model de jour.

5) Richard Hamming, "You and Your Research", 1986, http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

"One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage. Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can. If you think you can't, almost surely you are not going to. Courage is one of the things that Shannon had supremely. You have only to think of his major theorem. He wants to create a method of coding, but he doesn't know what to do so he makes a random code. Then he is stuck. And then he asks the impossible question, `What would the average random code do?' He then proves that the average code is arbitrarily good, and that therefore there must be at least one good code. Who but a man of infinite courage could have dared to think those thoughts? That is the characteristic of great scientists; they have courage. They will go forward under incredible circumstances;"

Re: Ask HN: What are your best “soft skill” resources?

#10
1. Career Tools and Manager Tools podcasts. Career advice, interviewing help, resume-building, team interactions, navigating office life/culture, salary negotiation, having your voice heard, and many other topics discussed in a friendly and approachable way. I listen every week. https://www.manager-tools.com/

2. "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk" isn't just for talking to children. Some good advice in here that applies to talking with adults also. http://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-Will-Listen/dp/145166388...

Post reply on HN