So they made you a manager ...

Book Review: The Rules of Management: A Definitive Code for Managerial Success by Richard Templar

Take one part Scott Adams' Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook, two parts Stephen R. Covey, add a sprinkling of contemporary cultural references ranging from "The Office" to "Pirates of the Carribean", and mix well. Pour into a highly readable format of 107 individual two-minute tidbits, and you have the recipe for Richard Templar's The Rules of Management

In my varied career, I have often ended up filling a position known as "manager". As a consequence I am wearily familiar with the flavor of the month variety of management/leadership 'how-to' books, all of which promise to turn you into a top-line manager by the second chapter. That is, until you find out this magical change won't occur until you buy the next book in the series, ad infinitum. If the secrets of being a manager are that easily distilled and digested, why would we need more than one book?

The fact is that managing people is not that simple. As Templar points out in the introduction to Rules, just the definition of what a manager does can be a complicated affair. In my own humble opinion (and 15+ years experience), management is like a Dilbert strip - you either get it or you don't. So it was with a great deal of skepticism that I started in on The Rules of Management.

To my relief I found that Templar does get it. Like the Pirate Code, the Rules are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules. Templar is under no illusion that management is just a list of things to do (or not do). With an easy jargon-free style he points out the things that you already know but may have forgotten, or have neglected to actually put into action. He accurately but gently punctures many of the generalizations that managers fall into, and redirects that energy to where it needs to go - letting our people manage themselves, and actually enjoy our jobs!

This is not a read-it-cover-to-cover type of book, at least not for me. Open it at random for help, for inspiration, or for a kick in the butt when you get stagnant (and we all do). If you are sincerely interested in building, strengthening, or revitalizing a team, this is an excellent addition to your reference shelf. If you are of the old pointy hair school of management this book won't help you, but buy it anyway; you just might fool your boss into thinking you are motivated.

Not Just for Geeks

Book Review: Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman

Don't let the title fool you - Team Geek is not just for geeks, or just software developers for that matter.

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.