Mar 21, 2021
- Author: Camille Fournier
- Type: Non-Fiction
- Genre: Business, Managment
- Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences
- The book is a must-read for anyone going into mentoring and management, especially if you come from a technical side, which most Engineering Managers do.
- Labelled and small sections within chapters give the book high re-read value.
- Provides a good glimpse into how some management-level decisions are made.
🎨 Impressions
I don’t usually mention the table of contents, but I have to mention it for this book, they are as follows:
- Management
- Mentoring
- Tech Lead
- Managing People
- Managing a Team
- Managing Multiple Teams
- Managing Managers
- The Big Leagues
- Bootstrapping Culture
- Conclusion
I love the way this book is structured, as it shows the natural management progression that you would see in most companies.
How I Discovered It
I was looking for a management book, just to see what it would be like if I decide to go down that path later in my career. When I asked my previous manager which books he had to recommend, this one was first on the list.
Who Should Read It?
People who are looking to get into management at any level, including mentoring, but also everyone else who works in a modern "tech" organization, as it gives a good view on the different hats that Engineering Managers have to wear, as well as how some decisions are made.
The book goes into talking about org structure and I believe it can give everyone a better understanding of what makes a company tick.
☘️ How the Book Changed Me
Trust, feedback, communication are at the core, as you get more senior, the focus shifts from you as an individual, to the team and the company.
It made me see that not everything is black and white, a lot goes into making a single management decision (at least from the good managers).
Tech is easy, people are hard.
Going to re-read if/when I find myself in any of the roles that share the chapter names.
✍️ My Top 3 Quotes
As you go through various stages of your career, you’ll start to realize how much uncertainty there is in the world. It’s a pretty universal truth that once you get the job you thought you wanted, the enjoyment eventually fades and you find yourself looking for something else. You think you want to work for that cool startup, and you get there only to find it’s a mess. You think you want to be a manager, only to discover that the job is hard and not rewarding in the ways you expected.
...never underestimate how many times and how many ways something needs to be said before it sinks in. Communication in a large organization is hard. In my experience, most people need to hear something at least three times before it really sinks in.
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that you have to be able to manage yourself if you want to be good at managing others. The more time you spend understanding yourself, the way you react, the things that inspire you, and the things that drive you crazy, the better off you will be.
Cover Photo by Pop & Zebra on Unsplash
