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1st out of 53 books
—
8 voters
Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management
by
Johanna Rothman (Goodreads Author),
Esther Derby (Goodreads Author)
Great management is difficult to see as it occurs. It's possible to see the results of great management, but it's not easy to see how managers achieve those results. Great management happens in one-on-one meetings and with other managers---all in private. It's hard to learn management by example when you can't see it.
You can learn to be a better manager---even a great mana...more
You can learn to be a better manager---even a great mana...more
Paperback, 176 pages
Published
September 26th 2005
by Pragmatic Bookshelf
(first published September 19th 2005)
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Week 1
-Initiate weekly one-on-ones with each person in your group.
-Notice someone doing something well and comment on it.
-Leave your office! The key to MBWAL (managing by walking around and listening) is to notice changes. Become familiar with the normal noise level, decor, and mood. Don't limit yourself to the office area. Stop for coffee in the kitchen area. Eat lunch in the lunchroom.
-Make a list of all the work your group performs, including your own. Use the list to start a project portfoli...more
-Initiate weekly one-on-ones with each person in your group.
-Notice someone doing something well and comment on it.
-Leave your office! The key to MBWAL (managing by walking around and listening) is to notice changes. Become familiar with the normal noise level, decor, and mood. Don't limit yourself to the office area. Stop for coffee in the kitchen area. Eat lunch in the lunchroom.
-Make a list of all the work your group performs, including your own. Use the list to start a project portfoli...more
According to PMI PMBOK the area for "Communications management" is the most important one among all the knowledge areas. This book is an excellent communications management guide. This book is structured and targeted for beginners and intermediate skilled managers and serves its purpose completely offering paramount help in moving from a chaos and ad-hoc management to a structural and organized approach that builds a strong team of allies and creates a good rythm in the project. An easy reading...more
A good book with clear ideas that are well presented.
The over all human-focus to the techniques is excellent and very relevant for managing in a collaborative workplace. There are techniques for coaching, delegating, prioritising and planning, giving feedback, facilitation and oodles of others. The descriptions of the techniques are short but the brevity of lessons does not reflect a lack of usefulness, rather a deep understanding and distillation of the essentials.
The book has a story as well...more
The over all human-focus to the techniques is excellent and very relevant for managing in a collaborative workplace. There are techniques for coaching, delegating, prioritising and planning, giving feedback, facilitation and oodles of others. The descriptions of the techniques are short but the brevity of lessons does not reflect a lack of usefulness, rather a deep understanding and distillation of the essentials.
The book has a story as well...more
Good book with many observations about the habits of effective technical managers. If more of today's managers would apply some of the techniques mentioned in here, a lot more good could be accomplished far more quickly. Some of the advice does sound too good - don't know when was the last time many of the folks I work with just did a 40 - 45 hour work week - longer is more the norm for quite some time. But supposedly that is the number for optimum performance and general well being.. One-on-one...more
This book is a good summary of many diversified books (about management, meetings, retrospectives, ...). It's a good start for a technical person who will have a management role soon, but if you're serious about management you also really need to read more complete books, like "First break all the rules" and "The art of possibility". This book help you choose these other ones with a lot of references.
A really quick read. The agile bias of the authors shows when they limit planning to 3-4 weeks, or put emphasis on people rather than process.
More than two years later, the only thing that really stuck to my mind is that one-on-one meetings with managers should be more about career development than status reporting.
More than two years later, the only thing that really stuck to my mind is that one-on-one meetings with managers should be more about career development than status reporting.
Nice and entertaining read.
Contains tips and checklists on various topics, supported by a feel-good narrative, which actually turns this book into a page-turner.
I found the first chapters - on holding one-on-ones and team meetings, and on introducing and using a project portfolio - the most helpful. Later chapters covered topics such as coaching, delegating and developing career paths, which are better covered elsewhere.
Contains tips and checklists on various topics, supported by a feel-good narrative, which actually turns this book into a page-turner.
I found the first chapters - on holding one-on-ones and team meetings, and on introducing and using a project portfolio - the most helpful. Later chapters covered topics such as coaching, delegating and developing career paths, which are better covered elsewhere.
view 2 comments
I carry this book around with me at work as a preacher would carry around his bible. I attribute much of my own success to this book, and I frequently give copies as gifts to budding managers and leaders.
It is the best book about management I've read so far. Doesn't matter whether you are experienced manager or have just stepped on your first management position, you will benefit from reading it.
Reminds me a bit of Patrick Lencioni's books, but with a lot more concrete advice and recommendations built in. Solid read and a good reference for those managing teams and people.
Jul 31, 2011
Roger
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
IT managers or wannabes
Recommended to Roger by:
n/a
Shelves:
geek
Interesting book on techniques for IT group management. I doubt I work in management again, but I see ways to use techniques to improve my responses when dealing with managers. There are a lot of good suggestions and a wealth of references to other books and materials in the book.
I've experienced good and bad managers during my career. If I try to figure out patterns the good managers I worked with had followed, that would almost match the contents of this book.
The book goes even further though. It provides ultimate guidelines for being a great manager. Plus it introduces agile management principles very gently without labeling them so explicitly. Thus it is a must read for managers who are skeptical about agile or anybody willing to introduce agile guerrilla-way.
Further...more
The book goes even further though. It provides ultimate guidelines for being a great manager. Plus it introduces agile management principles very gently without labeling them so explicitly. Thus it is a must read for managers who are skeptical about agile or anybody willing to introduce agile guerrilla-way.
Further...more
This is an outstanding book on managing teams of people and managing priorities. I recommend it for anyone who is in charge of others in the workplace.
The book was easy to read. It combines a discussion of useful elements of a manager's toolbox with a case study of a hypothetical 'good manager' Sam, demonstrating those tools in practice.
Must read for anyone in IT Management. Should be the first book you read when you make the jump from Individual Contributor to Manager.
It's been a few years since I read that book, and I do remember it to be quite inspiring.
I was hoping to learn about the role of managers in a scrum-like environment.
How to be a boss. Practical tips for supervising. Easy read.
Good survey of technical management practices.
This book should be a basic material for a possible Management 101 course... I wish that most of the senior managers out there read it and apply the basics contained in the book.
The best part of this book is the practical sections in the back. Full of good templates for doing important things. The beginning of the book attempts to use a narrative style to explain why and when to use the practical sections. The trouble with the narrative style used is that the boss is perfect. Not just really good--perfect. The result being so artificial that it is hard to take the lessons seriously. Still worth the read, just wish it had been presented a little differently.
This is a decent quick read if this is your first dive into technical management books. It covers at a high level what books such as Managing Humans, as well as books on Kanban, successfully cover in more depth.
I find it very practical and step by step guideline for managing people. It describes quite meny important soft-skills needed to grow healthy team/group in the organization. Easy and fast to read. With plenty of checklists is quite useful for longer period of time on daily basis.
Very good refresher book for a lot of common sense behaviors and best practices that we all should keep in mind as managers. It's one of those books that I'll pull out again in a year just to thumb back through and get back on track where needed.
There is some good insight in this book, but it could have been boiled down to a three page article.
Oct 26, 2008
Angus McDonald
marked it as to-read
I would like to get this one as it is referenced several times in other works I've read.
Good read. If you are new manager at job-this book will definitely help you.
Condensed and essential starter pack for any manager.
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