Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

by Michael Lopp

Overview

Managing Humans is a selection of the best essays from Michael Lopp's popular website Rands in Repose(www.randsinrepose.com). Lopp is one of the most sought-after IT managers in Silicon Valley, and draws on his experiences at Apple, Netscape, Symantec, and Borland. This book reveals a variety of different approaches for creating innovative, happy development teams. It covers handling conflict, managing wildly differing personality types, infusing innovation into insane product schedules, and figuring out how to build lasting and useful engineering culture. The essays are biting, hilarious, and always informative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590598443
Publisher:	Apress
Publication date:	06/22/2007
Edition description:	1st ed.
Pages:	209
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Michael Lopp is a veteran engineering manager who has never managed to escape the Silicon Valley. In over 20 years of software development, Michael has worked at a variety of innovative companies, including Apple, Netscape, Symantec, Borland International, and a startup that slowly faded into nothingness. In addition to his day job, Michael writes a popular technology and management weblog under the nom de plume "Rands," where he discusses his management ideas, worries about staying relevant, and wishes he had time to see more of the world. His weblog can be found at RandsinRepose.com. Michael lives in northern California, never far from the ocean.

Table of Contents

• Don't Be a Prick
• Managers are Not Evil
• The Monday Freakout
• Agenda Detection
• Mandate Dissection
• Information Starvation
• Subtlety, Subterfuge, and Silence
• Managementese
• Technicality
• Avoiding the Fez
• Your Resignation Checklist
• Saying No
• 1.0
• Taking Time to Think
• The Soak
• Malcolm Events
• Capturing Context
• Status Reports 2.0
• Trickle Theory
• A Glimpse and a Hook
• Nailing the Phone Screen
• Ninety Days
• Bellwethers
• NADD
• A Nerd in a Cave
• Meeting Creatures
• Incrementalists and Completionists
• Organics and Mechanics
• Inwards, Outwards, and Holistics
• Free Electrons
• Rules for the Reorg
• Offshore Risk Factor
• Joe
• Secret Titles

Editorial Reviews

I can very warmly recommend this book to anyone who already works in a software engineering management position—whatever level—or who thinks about a career in this direction. It will be entertaining for software engineers as well, at least for understanding how these management beings think and why they might do what they are doing. … Finally, it will be a fun read for anyone who has just some vague understanding of this management thing.” (Frank Pospiech, Computing Reviews, February, 2017)

“The book is a witty, hilarious, and insightful look into what it takes to manage people in a software engineering firm. … this is a great book for managers in any arena, but especially those who work in software engineering. It provides a comprehensive set of tools in the form of bite-sized chapters that can help any manager improve her relationships with subordinates. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through professionals.” (A. Dantes, Choice, Vol. 54 (5), January, 2017)

From the Publisher