Managing the professional service firm

What Hacker News says

1. rramadassDec 2024
   Managing The Professional Service Firm by David Maister was recommended on HN for all entrepreneurs. It has a very practical and commonsense way of explaining how to approach all facets of a business and well worth reading.
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2. radiatorOct 2023
   Why don't you read some books?

   - Out of the crisis and The new economics, Deming

   - Workplace Management and Toyota Production System, Ohno

   - Peopleware, DeMarco & Lister

   - Managing the professional service firm, Meister (delegation)

   - Leadership Handbook, US Army

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3. jackconsidineMar 2023
   For me, I'd be nowhere without these.

   In sort of curriculum order:

   - Built to Sell - really easy gateway

   - The E-Myth Revisited (withstand the writing style, glib observations)

   - The Business Model Generation book- massive leap in understanding after this

   - Traction (Gabriel Weinberg). Marketing entrypoint zeroed into today

   - Managing the Professional Service Firm (Maiser) (incidentally related to what I do but so useful)

   - Thinking in Systems (Meadows)

   - An Elegant Puzzle (Engineering management book by Will Larson. Actionable and bite-sized)

   - Measure What Matters (Doerr)

   - Crossing the Chasm

   - Blue Ocean Strategy

   - Never Split the difference (eh)

   - Design of everyday things (not as niche as I thought, perspective altering)

   Some sales books (I held my nose while reading, but useful insights)

   - The Science of Selling

   - S.P.I.N. Selling

   - The Challenger Sale

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4. GaessakiSep 2022
   Managing the Professional Service Firm by David Maister.

   No longer doing consulting, but found it invaluable as a tech person building a consulting team and trying to break into enterprise. Probably useful for any professional consulting through a firm (lawyers, accountants, big 4, etc.)

   Someone mentioned Designing Data Intensive Applications which I’m partial to as well.

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5. jackconsidineSep 2022
   I run a professional software-development firm, and Managing the Professional Service Firm by David Maister is the most accurate and instructive book I've read on the topic (and not for lack of other books).

   Maister basically made a manual of my whole world which includes things I never thought about like "leverage formulas" and "service programs". Would highly recommend if you are a partner of a firm or thinking of starting your own.

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6. pjungwirFeb 2022
   I'm also an independent contractor trying to find one or two trustworthy partners to go to the next step. I haven't found sales, collections, etc. to be so onerous. In fact usually I'm turning away work.

   A few years back I tried forming an LLC with a couple friends, but they both have full-time jobs and they keep getting promoted, so it's never gone anywhere, and we're talking about winding it down. I'd love to try again with someone who is already independent and is ready to try something bigger.

   I haven't read Developer Hegemony, but another great book about the dynamics of such a partnership is Managing the Professional Service Firm by David Maister. It's pretty dense, but it's full of great ideas.

   I went into freelancing in part to avoid becoming a manager, and I think with the right kind of partnership you could still practice your craft while still helping to lead a small team of people---or maybe even just mostly collaborating with other partners. The Maister book has helpful things to say here about whether your firm focuses on work that is repeatable & leveragable (e.g. making Wordpress sites) vs unique, challenging, and done mostly by partners (which sounds more fun to me).

   I'm in Portland, Oregon, if anyone is interested in talking about something like that. :-)

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