Scan barcode
Reviews
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager by Michael Lopp
localghost8080's review against another edition
3.0
There aren't very many "biting and humorous tales" in here, but there is a lot of great work advice.
It's Rands in book form. It was worth the read and enjoyable.
It's Rands in book form. It was worth the read and enjoyable.
carmiendo's review against another edition
4.0
i thought i liked reading his blog, but somehow his writing style kinda grated on me as i read the entire book.
dozylocal's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
I finished this book and thought "now I need to read it again and make notes". A compilation of blog posts, it still flows really well, with the added benefit of each chapter being short and to the point. The writing is witty and, as I work in IT, in my opinion, he knows his stuff. He's farther along the geek scale than I am, but I am enough on the nerd scale to understand some of the challenges he describes - and appreciate his practical advice!
Even if you disagree with some of his methods and opinions, if you're at all familiar with anyone who is an Engineer, you'll probably still relate to this book.
I finished this book and thought "now I need to read it again and make notes". A compilation of blog posts, it still flows really well, with the added benefit of each chapter being short and to the point. The writing is witty and, as I work in IT, in my opinion, he knows his stuff. He's farther along the geek scale than I am, but I am enough on the nerd scale to understand some of the challenges he describes - and appreciate his practical advice!
Even if you disagree with some of his methods and opinions, if you're at all familiar with anyone who is an Engineer, you'll probably still relate to this book.
erikars's review against another edition
4.0
This book is excellent if you think of it as a collection of essays that slightly build on each other rather than as a coherent book on being a Software Engineer Manager -- in other words, it's a typical blog to book transition. Michael Lopp (rands) manages to convey much of what it is important to know as a manager of software engineers from the perspective of someone who has been a software engineer. This is useful for programmers wanting to know what a manager actually does, managers wanting to understand how software engineers tick, and those of us transitioning from individual contributor to having some management responsibilities. As such, he cuts out a lot of the boring or stupid verbiage used in many management training resources and focuses on the issues that actually apply with software engineers. Also, he tells a lot of great stories. =)
erinturkeylane's review against another edition
3.0
This book had a lot of good takeaways for software engineers and engineering managers. There's a whole section on resumes and phone screens and another on company vision that I jotted down some notes from.
That being said, I rolled my eyes all through this book. His observations around what engineers are like and how to best manage them are based on his assumptions that all engineers are stubborn, argumentative, anti-social, and just plain weird to be around. And these people certainly exist, but I've encountered very few of them so far in my career, and I certainly don't fit into that bucket. I'm mainly just annoyed with all the software engineering stereotypes because I don't really align with any of them and am sick of feeling like I need to in order to be good at my job.
So clearly I had some of my own biases before going into this book, but there's still quite a bit that I learned and gave more thought to as a result of reading this.
That being said, I rolled my eyes all through this book. His observations around what engineers are like and how to best manage them are based on his assumptions that all engineers are stubborn, argumentative, anti-social, and just plain weird to be around. And these people certainly exist, but I've encountered very few of them so far in my career, and I certainly don't fit into that bucket. I'm mainly just annoyed with all the software engineering stereotypes because I don't really align with any of them and am sick of feeling like I need to in order to be good at my job.
So clearly I had some of my own biases before going into this book, but there's still quite a bit that I learned and gave more thought to as a result of reading this.
morganbird's review against another edition
3.0
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.
afox98's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty funny portrayals of "fictional" engineers/developers. Working with developers every day, I could envision people I work with fitting some of these scenarios quite easily. An enjoyable read.