Stats for nerds
3recommend
4mentions
3people
2019–2026years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It's funny when popular blog writers get criticised for turning blog posts into books (usually while leaving the original posts accessible) when I feel this is way more honest than doing exactly what you say. Resilient Management by Lara Hogan and An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson do the former and are two of the most useful SW Management books I've ever read.
- There are a number of decent books.
"Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager", "The Manager's Path", "Becoming a Technical Leader", "An Elegant Puzzle", "Resilient Management".
But your best bet is either finding an experienced manager who's willing to coach you, or working with a management coach.
(There's a number of folks blogging as well. Gergely Orosz, Laura Hogan, Camille Fournier,...)
- You seem to be off to a good start; being open and willing to learn is an important trait of great leaders.
Have you reflected on what do you feel is challenging wrt to leading and motivate people? It could be psych safety on the team, your communication style, unclear mission, lack of purpose, high turnover, newly formed team, etc, etc.
It's easier when you have 1-2 areas that you know you need to get better at, and then intentionally invest time and energy. It also helps to make your team aware that you're trying to improve on those areas, so a) you demonstrate vulnerability and effort to improve your own areas for development, and b) you need their help to give you candid feedback, so you can improve more quickly.
Leading teams is probably one of the hardest professional challenges I've ever faced, but it can be incredibly fulfilling as well. I hope you end up enjoying it.
Here's my recommended reading for new-ish managers. These are the books I wish I had read when I first started managing people:
1) Radical Candor, by Kim Scott - https://www.radicalcandor.com/
2) Resilient Management, by Lara Hogan - https://resilient-management.com/
3) Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown (or any of her other books; they all revolve around the importance of vulnerability, of being in the field, being authentic, etc) - https://brenebrown.com/hubs/dare-to-lead/
4) The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni
For experienced managers of managers / Directors, I recommend:
1) What got you here won't get you there, Marshall Goldsmith
2) Team of Teams, Gen. Stanley McChrystal
3) Trillion Dollar Coach
4) How women rise, by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith
5) and get an executive coach ASAP
If you have any specific questions / challenges you're facing, feel free to reach out; email in my profile.
- First and foremost: you need to decide if being a people manager is something you're really passionate about. If you're unsure, probably this is not the right time for you.
You can certainly acquire the skills to become a great manager, but it takes effort, and you'll feel miserable if that's not what you want to do with your career. Worse: the experience of folks who report to you will be a mess.
If you're not sure what entails to be a manager, a good introduction is "Radical Candor", by Kim Scott [1]. Another one is is "Resilient Management", by Lara Hogan [2]. Lara was a senior engineering leader at Kickstarter and Etsy, so her examples are a bit more focused on tech people managers.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kick-Ass-Without-Human...
[2] https://larahogan.me/blog/coming-soon-resilient-management
