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  • Managing Humans

  • Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager
  • By: Michael Lopp
  • Narrated by: TJ Johnson
  • Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (64 ratings)
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Managing Humans

By: Michael Lopp
Narrated by: TJ Johnson
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Summary

Listen to hilarious stories with serious lessons that Michael Lopp extracts from his varied and sometimes bizarre experiences as a manager at Apple, Pinterest, Palantir, Netscape, Symantec, Slack, and Borland. Many of the stories first appeared in primitive form in Lopp’s perennially popular blog, Rands in Repose. The third edition of Managing Humans contains a whole new season of episodes from the ongoing saga of Lopp's adventures in Silicon Valley, together with classic episodes remastered for high fidelity and freshness. 

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 amid the general craziness of dysfunctional bright people caught up in the chase of riches and power. Scattered in repose among these manic misfits are managers, an even stranger breed of people who, through a mystical organizational ritual, have been given power over the futures and the bank accounts of many others.  

Lopp's straight-from-the-hip style is unlike that of any other writer on management and leadership. He pulls no punches and tells stories he probably shouldn't. But they are magically instructive and yield Lopp’s trenchant insights on leadership that 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. 

Writing code is easy. Managing humans is not. You need a book to help you do it, and this is it. 

You'll learn to: lead engineers, handle conflict, hire well, motivate employees, manage your boss, discover how to say no, understand different engineering personalities, build effective teams, run a meeting well, and scale teams. 

Who This Book Is For 

Managers 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. The book covers handling conflict, managing wildly differing personality types, infusing innovation into insane product schedules, and figuring out how to build a lasting and useful engineering culture.

©2016 Michael Lopp (P)2020 Upfront Books

What listeners say about Managing Humans

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The title says it all

I really struggled to figure out whether the voice was automated by text-to-speech or it's dictated by robot. The overall content is indeed anecdotes about software engineering. Despite that, I like the authors games in the meeting with role detections and 'how to bail' check list. Also, the NED syndrome is memorable and remarkable. The book structure is a bit confusing, but it could be read story by story.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Very scatter brained.

Hard to follow. All over the place. ADD feel to it. I don't really get what they were on about.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Dates and a bit all over

I’m not sure who this is targeted at, I am a manager in an engineering organization, but I do not really feel that this book was written for me

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Funny & informative

Would caveat it’s very heavy towards engineering in high tech (as the sub title implies). Also extreamly US centric, a lot is n/a in Europe or anywhere else in the world. Some is a bit dated.

With those heads ups though, it’s actually very fun and entertaining while also being highly informative and useful as a manager. I really enjoyed the stories and found myself laughing quite a lot!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Dated

This had been on my reading list for a long time and perhaps I should have got around to it sooner. A very dated view of tech management that isn't underpinned by any research.

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