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    Cover of Managing Humans

    Managing Humans

    Michael Lopp · 2007

    The humor and insights in the 2nd Edition of Managing Humans are drawn from Michael Lopp's management experiences at Apple, Netscape, Symantec, and Borland, among others. This book is full of stories based on companies in the Silicon Valley where people have been known to yell at each other and occasionally throw chairs. It is a place full of dysfunctional bright people who are in an incredible hurry to find the next big thing so they can strike it rich and then do it all over again. Among these people are managers, a strange breed of people who, through a mystical organizational ritual, have been given power over the future and bank accounts of many others. Whether you're an aspiring manager, a current manager, or just wondering what the heck a manager does all day, there is a story in this book that will speak to you—and help you survive and prosper amongst the general craziness. Lopp's straight-from-the-hip style is unlike any other writer on management. He pulls no punches and tells stories he probably shouldn't. But they are massively instructive and cut to the heart of the matter whether it's dealing with your boss, handling a slacker, hiring top guns, or seeing a knotty project through to completion. This second editions expands on the management essentials. It will explain why we hate meetings, but must have them, it carefully documents the right way to have a 1-on-1, and it documents the perils of not listening to your team. Writing code is easy.

    Business & Management
    Open LibraryAmazon
    Stats for nerds
    76recommend
    106mentions
    90people
    2008–2025years
    86% recommend14% neutral

    Mentions per year

    2008201020122014201620182020202220242025

    What Hacker News says

    1. caprockApr 2025
      Managing Humans by Michael Loop

      Many of the chapters are derived from his blog posts if you want to get a feel for it.

      https://managinghumans.com/pitch.html

      thread
    2. mdekkersFeb 2024
      Rands is awesome, and “Managing Humans” is just about the best management book I own.
      thread
    3. peterladaFeb 2024
      Managing Humans by Michael Lopp

      And it's a book of his articles.

      thread
    4. matt_sFeb 2024
      Books are going to be better than articles because you can dive deep into topics and you know it isn't written for SEO, clickbait, selling some silver bullet process or ad revenue. I'll recommend two to learn good practices from and then two that will help learn to recognize horrible practices. You're likely to run into horrible management at some point and its good to recognize dog shit before you step in it.

      * Peopleware, Demarco & Lister

      * Rands - anything/everything he has written. Start with Managing Humans.

      * The 5 dysfunctions of a team, Lencioni

      * Gervais Principle (broke my rule, its a set of articles about The Office) https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

      thread
    5. sargstuffFeb 2024
      For non-management related things: "Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering" by Frederick Brooks Jr.

      "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell

      "The Design of Design" by Fred Brooks

      "Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of Software Engineering Manager" by Michael Lopp

      "The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary" by Eric S. Raymond

      "Assessment and Control of Software Risks" by Capers Jones

      "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" by G.J. Sussman et al.

      "The Pragmatic Programmer" by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas

      "A Philosophy of Software Design" by Jhon Ousterhout

      Amazon developer best practices series : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PV4J7TR

      thread
    6. jeanloolzDec 2023
      Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager
      thread

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