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

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

  • Downloads：8562
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-12-30 09:21:06
  • Update Date：2025-09-07
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Michael Lopp
  • ISBN：1484271157
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary

In this fourth edition of the bestselling business book Managing Humans， author Michael Lopp continues to draw leadership advice from some of the most important software companies of our modern age。 Educational stories from companies across Silicon Valley such as Apple， Slack， Pinterest， Palantir， Netscape， and Borland detail the experiences of bright software engineers in an ever-changing industry

This revised edition of Managing Humans expands on the previous editions' explorations of management essentials including handling stress， building diverse teams， running inclusive meetings， and how to lead in times of crisis。 The education of a great leader never stops， and Lopp applies crucial insights to help continue your never-ending leadership education。 Whether it is approaching a myriad of engineering personalities or handling unexpected conflict， you will come away with wisdom to handle any team situation。



The engineering culture of a company can determine the difference between a product's ultimate success or failure。 Managing Humans is here to guide managers and aspiring managers into the intimidating world of people and their vastly different personalities。 Handle conflict， infuse innovation into your approach， and be the most confident manager you can be after reading this book。

What You Will Learn


Lead engineers


Handle conflict
Understand different engineering personalities
Who This Book Is ForManagers and would-be managers staring at the role of a manager wondering why they would ever leave the safe world of bits and bytes for the messy world of managing humans。

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Reviews

Filip Tepper ，

Najpierw dużo naprawdę ciekawych obserwacji， które płynnie przychodzą w bycie typowym bro z Silicon Valley， po zamykające książkę rozdziały o pisaniu CV i rekrutacji。 Szkoda， bo po znakomitym początku jest bardzo przeciętnie。

Mikhail ，

I got through a quarter of this book and couldn't persuade myself to keep reading。。。 It just felt very irrelevant to my personal experience， the questions asked and answered didn't resonate。 I may be in a wrong audience or whatever， but I wasn't getting anything from reading。 I got through a quarter of this book and couldn't persuade myself to keep reading。。。 It just felt very irrelevant to my personal experience， the questions asked and answered didn't resonate。 I may be in a wrong audience or whatever， but I wasn't getting anything from reading。 。。。more

Ahmed Moawad ，

A good readThe book is easily readable and has many eye opening moments。 Some chapters were very insightful and made me self-reflect on many practices I do/don't as a team leader， while few chapters were not as good。 Overall， Rands （the author） is a gifted writer with a fresh writing style mixing frankness and sarcasm in a delightful way。 A good readThe book is easily readable and has many eye opening moments。 Some chapters were very insightful and made me self-reflect on many practices I do/don't as a team leader， while few chapters were not as good。 Overall， Rands （the author） is a gifted writer with a fresh writing style mixing frankness and sarcasm in a delightful way。 。。。more

Andry ，

2。5I advise this "book" to every employee and manager: it can help both categories in understanding and improving several situations that happen in office。But anyway， this is not a book， just a lot of articles more fit for a blog， a journal， a diary。。。 There is not a sequence or order just random great stories: this is why I found it very hard and sometimes boring to read and finish。 2。5I advise this "book" to every employee and manager: it can help both categories in understanding and improving several situations that happen in office。But anyway， this is not a book， just a lot of articles more fit for a blog， a journal， a diary。。。 There is not a sequence or order just random great stories: this is why I found it very hard and sometimes boring to read and finish。 。。。more

Allegra Poschmann ，

A few insightful gems around conducting meetings and productive one-on-ones， an action plan for bored employees and why management is sometimes at odds with software development methodology， but I find this writing style incredibly grating and difficult to follow。

Viktor Malyshev ，

I was a bit biased when started to read this book。 It's just a list of articles from the author's blog。 Literally， one article per week， i。e。 52 of them。 But somewhere in the middle up to end， I felt like there are examples and things I can use。 And the way how this data is presented。 It's fun and interesting。 Mostly about people you will definitely meet in various organizations。 Also， lots of different pain points， conversations， and weird situations were discussed with a piece of advice from t I was a bit biased when started to read this book。 It's just a list of articles from the author's blog。 Literally， one article per week， i。e。 52 of them。 But somewhere in the middle up to end， I felt like there are examples and things I can use。 And the way how this data is presented。 It's fun and interesting。 Mostly about people you will definitely meet in various organizations。 Also， lots of different pain points， conversations， and weird situations were discussed with a piece of advice from the author。 Overall， it was a fun and interesting read to me， I recommend reading， especially to those who are in the management field。 。。。more

Ramanathan Palaniappan ，

Have you ever wondered that being a software manager feels so alien to someone who was a senior engineer before？ It almost feels the person was forced into something new although they wanted to become a manager in the first place - it's anxious in the first few months for a newly minted software engineering manager。 In the book "Managing Humans"， Michael Lopp precisely targets new managers who feel out of place in the managerial role and does it convincingly with real-world stories from technolo Have you ever wondered that being a software manager feels so alien to someone who was a senior engineer before？ It almost feels the person was forced into something new although they wanted to become a manager in the first place - it's anxious in the first few months for a newly minted software engineering manager。 In the book "Managing Humans"， Michael Lopp precisely targets new managers who feel out of place in the managerial role and does it convincingly with real-world stories from technology companies。The book is subdivided into three parts: The Management Quiver， The Process is the Product， and Versions of You。 The first part is a concoction of foundational dos and dont's for managers with their teams。 Think about this as a cheat sheet of things that you must follow with your team。 The sample concept is around managing employee morale。 Never let any frustration build up and handle them proactively。The second part of the book goes into best practices within teams。 Some ideas here include: having dedicated thinking times for everyone in the team， focusing on one thing at a time to minimize distractions， capturing， storing context and communicating it across the organization， etc。，The final part of the book is the most interesting。 It talks about humans （us！） and drives the point that each person on a team is different; this implies that a manager has to use personalized techniques to support each team member。 This section also dives into the nerd （geek） mindset and suggests tactics to help them flourish and grow。Overall， the book is a light read and provides sound tips on running healthy teams。 It can also be a good refresher for seasoned managers on some of the basics。 。。。more

Filippo Diotalevi ，

This is my second read of this book。 The first time I read it a few years ago， I thought it was an original， valuable book containing a lot of insights。 The second time around， I still consider it a must-read for managers and aspiring managers， but I enjoyed it much less。It is very repetitive， badly organized （it is a collection of blog posts after all）， but I think the preposterous attempt to describe in a systematic and objective way what are just opinions and personal experiences is what anno This is my second read of this book。 The first time I read it a few years ago， I thought it was an original， valuable book containing a lot of insights。 The second time around， I still consider it a must-read for managers and aspiring managers， but I enjoyed it much less。It is very repetitive， badly organized （it is a collection of blog posts after all）， but I think the preposterous attempt to describe in a systematic and objective way what are just opinions and personal experiences is what annoyed me this time。Still recommended， as it is a very original take on management books。 。。。more

John Solly ，

The author is a bit of a rambler， going from topic to topic without a lot of structure。 That being said， it's good info and a great intuition pump！ The author is a bit of a rambler， going from topic to topic without a lot of structure。 That being said， it's good info and a great intuition pump！ 。。。more

Keith Brooks ，

Good info， reads like a blog， so not always answering its own questions。 If you need to manage developers this is your bible。

Igorg ，

A lot of interesting insights in this book。 It is known that engineers have a hard time accepting a non-engineer to lead them。 This book helps with that， it give insights on how engineers think， and gives some advice on how to lead them。

Tõnis Kasekamp ，

There are some good stories， but overall the book lacks a clear theme or message。

Fritz ，

Passable collection of blog posts （not really a book！） which can give a good idea what the EM role is all about。 But it suffers from many issues: it's beginning to feel out of touch with the 2020s， it's disjointed， often repetitive， never goes deep enough， a lot of content is just noise of no relevance to you。The style is that of a standup comedian， mildly amusing until half way through the book you realise Lopp has a single trick in his locker:"You get the dreaded email （Ed: do people still use Passable collection of blog posts （not really a book！） which can give a good idea what the EM role is all about。 But it suffers from many issues: it's beginning to feel out of touch with the 2020s， it's disjointed， often repetitive， never goes deep enough， a lot of content is just noise of no relevance to you。The style is that of a standup comedian， mildly amusing until half way through the book you realise Lopp has a single trick in his locker:"You get the dreaded email （Ed: do people still use those？？）。 It's from X。 It says Y。 Congratulations。 You have just experienced the Bear Tickle。 The Bear Tickle is 。。。。 blah""At the status meeting everyone is doing X。 Don't sweat it。 It's the Pebble Wince。 The Pebble Wince。。。。"You will still no doubt get something out it， but probably not as much as you hoped。 。。。more

A ，

This is a collection of multiple blog posts by Michael Lopp。 I'm afraid it works better that way。 As a book， it is really hard to have some continuity because， well， the chapters don't have any。 In general the chapters/posts are relevant but not necessarily super enlightening。 I think it is good the read it diagonally， but I wouldn't dive in it。 This is a collection of multiple blog posts by Michael Lopp。 I'm afraid it works better that way。 As a book， it is really hard to have some continuity because， well， the chapters don't have any。 In general the chapters/posts are relevant but not necessarily super enlightening。 I think it is good the read it diagonally， but I wouldn't dive in it。 。。。more

Ashik Uzzaman ，

Last week I finished "Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager" by Michael Lopp。 This was a very relevant book for me as it focused on engineering management， particularly the type of job I do in Silicon Valley software companies。 The author is a highly experienced engineering leader， currently an executive in Apple and has been VP of Slack in the past with his vast experience expanding to Pinterest， Palantir， Icarian， Netscape， Borland。 With humor and straigh Last week I finished "Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager" by Michael Lopp。 This was a very relevant book for me as it focused on engineering management， particularly the type of job I do in Silicon Valley software companies。 The author is a highly experienced engineering leader， currently an executive in Apple and has been VP of Slack in the past with his vast experience expanding to Pinterest， Palantir， Icarian， Netscape， Borland。 With humor and straight talks he unleashes some of the inner thoughts of engineers and leaders through three major parts of the book。 Many of those may sound opinionated， but I could connect to those easily。While reading the book， I found that I have never been victim of a layoff although I survived a layoff when I was working for Philips。 Looks like there is a lot to learn from that。 Whether you are an engineer or a manager， this book has lot to offer to you。 I highly recommend reading this。Source: http://www。dragon-bishop。com/2021/06/。。。 。。。more

David ，

The book of management street smarts。 Author unabashedly shares his thoughts， breakdowns and categorizations。Each chapter is self contained so you can skip if it's not interesting。 The book of management street smarts。 Author unabashedly shares his thoughts， breakdowns and categorizations。Each chapter is self contained so you can skip if it's not interesting。 。。。more

Tricia ，

Even though I'm not in IT （I do regularly work with IT folk though）， I found a lot of useful insights from reading this book and about diiiiied when I read the Meeting Creatures chapter toward the end that was SPOT ON。 I would reccommend this book for people managers of at least semi-technical roles。 If you're not dealing with technical people on a regular basis， some of this might be lost on you。 Even though I'm not in IT （I do regularly work with IT folk though）， I found a lot of useful insights from reading this book and about diiiiied when I read the Meeting Creatures chapter toward the end that was SPOT ON。 I would reccommend this book for people managers of at least semi-technical roles。 If you're not dealing with technical people on a regular basis， some of this might be lost on you。 。。。more

Ines ，

These are nuggets of knowledge that we can find in the author's blog。 The chapters are easy to listen to and digest， but I feel the compilation is not as good as The Art of Leadership: Small Things， Done Well。 Furthermore， some of the topics are exacly the same so between both I'd choose to keep the latter。 Still， it is a great listen for first time tech managers and more seasonsed managers who want to keep improving on themselves。 These are nuggets of knowledge that we can find in the author's blog。 The chapters are easy to listen to and digest， but I feel the compilation is not as good as The Art of Leadership: Small Things， Done Well。 Furthermore， some of the topics are exacly the same so between both I'd choose to keep the latter。 Still， it is a great listen for first time tech managers and more seasonsed managers who want to keep improving on themselves。 。。。more

Hazel ，

The bitter ramblings of a white guy who seems to hate people and assume everyone is doing their best， but their 'best' will always be shitter than what he can do。 Folks following the advice in this book become overbearing distrustful micro-managers。 A good example of how not to be a great manager in this day and age， and hopefully a style that's dying out with the rise of diversity and inclusion/emotional intelligence etc etc。 The bitter ramblings of a white guy who seems to hate people and assume everyone is doing their best， but their 'best' will always be shitter than what he can do。 Folks following the advice in this book become overbearing distrustful micro-managers。 A good example of how not to be a great manager in this day and age， and hopefully a style that's dying out with the rise of diversity and inclusion/emotional intelligence etc etc。 。。。more

Jared Knipp ，

As a manager of software engineers， I found this book relatable with a few insights into managing engineers。 However， I was disappointed overall with most of the content which came across as incoherent thoughts and rambling rather than useful structured reading material。

Vinod Kurup ，

Lots of easy-to-read， good advice for working in the software industry。

Diego Pacheco ，

Best advice: Don't be a prick！ I like the definition of strategic and tactical hires。 Best advice: Don't be a prick！ I like the definition of strategic and tactical hires。 。。。more

Mayur Bhambhani ，

Funny。 Easy。 Useful

Joe ，

Like all books where the “chapters” are rehashed blog posts， the continuity and flow from one chapter to the next was lacking。 However， there are many useful insights that I will refer back to over time。

James Traxler ，

Some pearls of wisdom， interspersed with a bunch of other stuff。

Mj ，

Humorous but painfully anecdotal from a conceited mindset

Morgan Bird ，

Contains some good insights and I might've rated it higher ten years ago but it feels both very much like a collection of blog posts and a bit dated to boot。 Contains some good insights and I might've rated it higher ten years ago but it feels both very much like a collection of blog posts and a bit dated to boot。 。。。more

Matt ，

I received this as a Christmas present， and the essays on managing a software team are timely and terrific。 Some stand out more than others， of course。 I marked up the book like crazy， which should make it easy for me to skim later on and find areas to read again。 A few （of many） takeaways: - Managing a software team is about people， product， and process。 That split is a good way to brainstorm solutions to a problem， too。 - Process must defend itself。 Answer why， not just how。 - Delegate until i I received this as a Christmas present， and the essays on managing a software team are timely and terrific。 Some stand out more than others， of course。 I marked up the book like crazy， which should make it easy for me to skim later on and find areas to read again。 A few （of many） takeaways: - Managing a software team is about people， product， and process。 That split is a good way to brainstorm solutions to a problem， too。 - Process must defend itself。 Answer why， not just how。 - Delegate until it hurts。 - A team is smarter than its leader。 。。。more

Anjishnu ，

OK。 More than half of it is nothing new for someone who works in tech。

Chad Schultz ，

If you're looking for the latest management science， with enlightening studies boiled down to easily digestible takeways， this isn't it。If you're looking for "biting and humorous tales"， this isn't it either。 It's actually not very story-heavy。Its origin as a blog explains why this feels less cohesive than a book written from the ground up。Well， what IS this then？This is one person with software leadership experience giving his personal point of view on how management in IT works。 He never uses If you're looking for the latest management science， with enlightening studies boiled down to easily digestible takeways， this isn't it。If you're looking for "biting and humorous tales"， this isn't it either。 It's actually not very story-heavy。Its origin as a blog explains why this feels less cohesive than a book written from the ground up。Well， what IS this then？This is one person with software leadership experience giving his personal point of view on how management in IT works。 He never uses commonly accepted terms when he can create and name his own concepts， requiring you to then remember both the concept and his name for it。 For example， he uses the term "free electrons" several times in the book， only defining it in one of the last chapters as a truly exceptional super-genius engineer （others might refer to them as 10x engineers） that handles massive amounts of complex work in very short amounts of time。 Speaking of， one of his pieces of advice is that if you're behind schedule and your team lacks the technical expertise needed， the ideal solution is to get one of this "free electrons" - even though he admits they are so rare that a manager will likely only see， at most， a couple of them in their entire career。I'm sure he's a great leader in his own way， but not all of his advice meshed with me。 Such as that he is most effective at concentrating when he is doing five things at once， and that one of his habits is to hire someone to clean the house， and then to spend an hour a week readjusting exactly how his mess is arranged once the cleaning is done。To be fair， much of the book attempts to be tactical， practical advice you can start using right away， so some people will get benefit from it。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0