Book Review: Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman
In the past few months I have had the opportunity to read (and review) management books at the two ends of the spectrum. At the one end we have the "practical" approach, typified by how-to books like The Truth About Managing People. Short two-page chapters that give the one-minute manager everything he needs to do to hire the right people, and make the right decisions. However these usually offer no help on what to do when your right decision goes unexpectedly wrong, like when your new star employee becomes a morale problem.
At the other end is the theoretical approach, exemplified by the textbook-like Dialogue Gap: Why Communication Isnt Enough and What We Can Do About It, Fast. Long chapters of different theories and approaches (because there is not just one way to get from A to B), a little more fuzzy and a lot more work; worth it if you have the time and patience. The answers to your unexpected problems are in here, but there's a lot of data mining to get the gold.
Both of these approaches had me wondering if anyone had found the productive middle ground - clear concise suggestions backed by sound theoretical ideas. Team Geek delivers.
I will admit I was a little hesitant at first, despite being by occupation a geek and software developer. A management book with cartoons?! Get real. Authors Fitzpatrick and Collins-Sussman are for real, and have real answers backed by real methods that work; not just for software development but for any team environment. These ideas could easily be applied in retail sales, or even in an office environment where you want to build a solid, cooperative working organization.
