Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

by Michael Lopp

Managing Humans is a selection of the best essays from Michael Lopp's popular website Rands in Repose(www.randsinrepose.com). Lopp is one of the most sought-after IT managers in Silicon Valley, and draws on his experiences at Apple, Netscape, Symantec, and Borland. This book reveals a variety of different approaches for creating innovative, happy development teams. It covers handling conflict, managing wildly differing personality types, infusing innovation into insane product schedules, and figuring out how to build lasting and useful engineering culture. The essays are biting, hilarious, and always informative.

Genres: Management, Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Programming, Software

209 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because I love the author's blog (www.randsinrepose.com). The blog is excellent, the book less so, probably because it's mostly a collection of his blog posts, which tend to work less well in book format. There is some attempt at organization but it feels very jumbled, oddly enough even more jumbled than the blog.

[Ishraq · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you wish to scare the hell out of a software engineer, an obsessed introvert geek, give him a managerial position!! Management means dealing with people, become socially engaged and start relating to others in a non-technical manner. Trust me this is scarier than watching a paranormal movie when you are alone in the middle of the night!

I'm starting a managerial position and this scares the hell out of me since I'm no longer able to hide in my cave, put the headset and ignore that everything around me ever existed. My first reaction to this panic rush is search for managerial books, more precisely how to deal with the other creatures out there and it would means a lot to me if it is something related to software engineering. Once I saw these magic words in the title, the book was already ordered.

What astonished me the most with Michael Lopp is that he speaks the same language as I do, use the same acronyms, uses everyday language and able to make me laugh in a matter of seconds. I Love Rands so much and this book felt like setting with this geek you adore, just listening to them talking hours and hours without feeling bored, non a second and I wished he kept talking forever.

I like his advices on resumes and hiring, meetings specially the long-killer-WTF-I'm-doing-here where Chatty-Patty and Mr-Irrelevant are driving you nuts and you reached number 100 on the 1000 ways on how to whack your boss just at the first 5 minutes, nerds and geeks, one-on-ones and managing conflicts. The hilarious moments when the final release date is tomorrow and you have a big show stopper bug or how-in-hell-nobody-noticed-this-bug-before that will make your 48 continuous working hours a fact!! I loved how he called everything names and who doesn't like that! and how he was easily able to tell you cut off the crap and talk sense from hundreds of non-sense situations you are obliged to hear every day from those setting outside the technical zone.

If you are a software developer, go get this book, it is a hell of amusement.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a software engineering manager, I am exactly the target audience for Managing Humans. Overall I found it to be a helpful and easy to read book. Some of the chapters really resonated with me and he has some insightful thoughts on how people -- and particular engineers -- function, and what is needed to manage them effectively.

However, some of his chapters really did not resonate with me and almost turned me off from the book. He has a few chapters where he describes the characteristics of "nerds". Whether or not it was his intention, these chapters imply that all engineers are nerds and all nerds are as he describes. I am a successful engineer and I felt that these chapters largely did *not* describe me. I would have appreciated some acknowledgement from him that some successful engineers and engineering managers do not fit into these boxes he is creating.

Additionally, he uses "he" much more than "she" in his writing. He does have a disclaimer about this, which I appreciate, but I still felt as if there was a slight undercurrent of subconscious sexism in his writing. The fact that he did not put in the effort to alternate pronouns regularly means that he does not care enough to think that it is important. However, it *is* important, because every single time I read "he" in a description of an engineer or manager I get the vague sense that it doesn't quite apply to me.

Overall, I recommend the book if you are an engineer or work with engineers. However, I will be integrating his thoughts into my own well-developed perspective on how to be a manager, not just following his advice and tips blindly.

[Crystal Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit "I am a stereotypical white American male programmer whose glory days peaked in the mid-80's and here are my pet peeves about working in Silicon Valley"-esque... But I can definitely derive value from the book. Unfortunately, the value had its climax mid-way in the book, and the latter half was far too myopic in perspective for me to feel like it was useful business advice that would apply anywhere in the world, for anyone, of any age, in any industry.

However I do enjoy his writing, and even though much of some sections was taken with a grain of salt, I definitely ended up laughing out loud at his quips and non-sequitrs. He has a gift for writing and I'd like to read more of his work.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about the perils of managing smart, talented, socially retarded people. Michael Lopp doesn't pull any punches, and leaves no stones unturned in this software development guide. This, along with Peopleware & The Mythical Man Month should be required reading before anyone in software engineering can start working. Wonderful book...if you have ever worked in the tech industry this book will have you laughing, crying, and angry over what you have experienced.

Well worth reading...again and again.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Hebep · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 73% before starting the chapter of “ A nerd in a cave”

I tried very hard to read this book, maybe the type of humor just made me annoyed but i didn’t find this book funny at all neither insightful.

I approached each chapter thinking “oh this is interesting let’s see what i can learn” and I finished them thinking they were a lot of pretentious “blablas”. I highlighted everything that was somehow insightful or interesting to really see if I am getting something from this book and that was only one or two sentences regarding:

-participating in layoff as manager
-stable vs volatile engineers
-the rands test
-in silence you can assess
-is it therapy or work?

I guess this could be a good book for some people but it wasn’t my cup of tea 😕

[Ahmed Moawad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read

The book is easily readable and has many eye opening moments. Some chapters were very insightful and made me self-reflect on many practices I do/don't as a team leader, while few chapters were not as good. Overall, Rands (the author) is a gifted writer with a fresh writing style mixing frankness and sarcasm in a delightful way.

[Allegra Poschmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few insightful gems around conducting meetings and productive one-on-ones, an action plan for bored employees and why management is sometimes at odds with software development methodology, but I find this writing style incredibly grating and difficult to follow.

[Kavya]

I’m sure this book was considered to be at the forefront of people management at some point but it’s just outdated now. It probably has things that are still useful today, but i just couldn’t get past the terrible work life balance expectations and the occasional bit of casual sexism.
There was even a whole chapter dedicated to outsourcing and how to evaluate if your job is at risk of being outsourced.
I should have checked the publishing date before I started 🤷‍♀️

[Amit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being anecdotal and all over the place was forgivable for most of the book (since this is essentially a stapled-together printout of Michael Lopp's blog posts), however during the last 3rd of the book the cringe is palpable. The author drags on and on about 'types' of programmers and managers like they are Pokemon he's researching for his twisted silicon valley Pokédex. It is condescending, reductive and does not provide much value other than giving the reader a sense of "huh, I know a person like that. figures".

You can totally skip this one.

[Amy Gilchrist Thorne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meh. It was okay.

There were a few places where I laughed out loud, and a few where I exclaimed, "That's so true!"

But I found myself wanting more in-depth analysis about how to fix it when I find myself in biting and humorous situations like these. And there are some recommendations that make sense. But I still found myself wanting more, not because I came to the book expecting the answers to all software development woes, but because some of the observations seemed so insightful that I just started expecting more follow-through.

I guess maybe it's just content better taken in small doses, and just for what it's worth. And I suppose that perfectly describes how I'd read a blog, which is apparently where the book comes from anyway.

Update: I'm bumping this up a couple stars. Since I first read this book a couple years ago, I find myself coming back to it for inspiration (or maybe it's really commiseration) when the organizational behaviour around me becomes exceptionally crazy.

In particular, I find myself returning to the "Information Starvation" chapter. Although some of that content is on the blog, I think it's presented more coherently in the book. Another chapter I return to frequently is the one on meetings, players, and agenda detection, which is also on the blog. And I find myself also visiting the content about performance reviews, No Surprises, which I think is only on the blog.

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Lopp made a name for himself by blogging about engineering management under the pseudonym "Rands”. The book is more of a packaging of his best blog posts than a cohesive narrative. In our management book club, some people disagreed with Lopp’s opinions and conclusions, but we appreciated his efforts to answer “What does a software engineering manager do? What should they do?” Despite my initial objection, I found his descriptions of diametrically-opposed engineering personality archetypes (e.g. Completionists vs. Incrementalists, Mechanics vs. Organics, Old Guard vs. New Guard) to be helpful in understanding the behaviors and motives of my co-workers. This book is recommended reading, especially for new managers living through start-up drama.

[Adam Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly specialized advice for being an engineering manager in a modern software company. I found the punched-up writing style annoying, but it's probably preferable to the dry and self-help-ish tone found in most management books.

[Avraam Mavridis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 80%-90% of the book is absolutely great!
The last few chapters were just stereotypes about different kinds of people, which contradicts with what the author actually mentions at the last chapter, about "unique snowflakes". Still a great book.

[Chad Hurd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite having read most chapters on his website, rereading them in book form was great. A lot of good information, cleverly conveyed.

[Kirill · Rating 4 out of 5]

It makes a lot of sense to read a book called “Managing Humans” for anyone who is, in fact, managing humans. This book doesn’t take itself too seriously, and is an entertaining guide to identifying patterns as both an engineer and a manager within a tech company. There are many times I’ve read chapters that made me feel seen - ones where it describes in detail about how engineers who become managers hit certain walls, and struggle with responsibilities (which I did, and I have), and how people around you function, and why should care. Both the strength and the weakness of this book is that almost every single description attempts to bucket the personalities and stereotypical scenarios you’ll likely encounter into playfully named definitions - free electron, fez, etc. The strength of this approach is that, you will absolutely recognize these personalities and likely map them to someone in your head, on the other hand, the propensity of categorizing all the scenarios always leaves an additional collection of experiences which are not captured, so I hope people who read this book and walk away with its knowledge don’t assume that everyone they encounter will be neatly placed in one of these definitions. Humans are complex, humans are multifaceted, and they unfortunately don’t fit neatly into these definitions. I did appreciate the humor and lightheartedness of this book, so I would certainly encourage folks to read it, especially, if you’re new to management and are still trying to find your bearings.

[Nabil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled interesting stories and anecdotes from the authors blog. I really enjoyed it reading it. It was both entertaining and insightful to hear the rants of an Engineering Manager. Since it's a collection of blog posts, the writing style is simple to read and the chapters are short, which makes it easy to digest and binge read.

4 stars instead of 5, because the last half is a bit too preachy and not as well structured as the first.

[Gabriel Michels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the writing style. Very entertaining. First half of the book is better. Didn't like all the buckets of personalities and roles in meetings or different types of nerds. Second half of the book feels like fillers but there are certainly very useful advices and ideas in between. Certainly a good book for first time tech managers!

[Oleksandr Romanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am marking professional books on how many notes I take during the reading. (From interesting thoughts to practical advices).
The book is from the category - "I wish I'd read it N years ago.". I took hundreds of notes and got a bunch of information and real-world approaches.
Highly recommend it to everyone who wants to understand how to manage people and their managers (and career).

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

2 stars for the writing (and the fact every other sentence somehow didn’t put a space between the period and the next word...?) but 4 stars for the usefulness of content, even for those in non-technical careers. Will be doing a second read with a pen and paper.

[Ivan Chernov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Моё отношение к этой книге скакало от главы к главе: "это просто великолепно" до "что за чушь тут написана?". Больше всего расстроил русский перевод названия и был не прав, что не прочитал её в оригинале. Могу порекомендовать людям, которые хотят пойти в технические менеджеры, так как она пытается описать типичные сценарии с которыми вы столкнётесь и людей которые будут в ней участвовать.

[Igorg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of interesting insights in this book. It is known that engineers have a hard time accepting a non-engineer to lead them. This book helps with that, it give insights on how engineers think, and gives some advice on how to lead them.

[Viktor Lototskyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good 'expand your horizons' book on managing people in IT, structured in 52 chapters, few pages each. Many are relevant and have interesting thoughts or advice.

[Babak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here be dragons ... and where there are dragons there is treasure to be found.

[Lukasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me years to read this book end-to-end. In the meantime, I used it as a quick reference guide for specific situations, or just as a pillow to cry my frustration in. Turns out, ways to handle humans and orgs coined in the golden age of Borland, never lost their efficiency. An essential read.

[Sriram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and clear writing but the content is very common knowledge. I wish the content had more details and was enriching.

[Osmosisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book isn't really aimed at me, there's still a whole bunch of fascinating opinions and insights in there. I think my biggest criticism is the way it buys into the Silicon Valley style, framework and methodology, e.g. talking about ridiculous working hours, or special snowflake engineers.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading for all Software Engineers. Must read for all Software Engineering Leaders.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pieces of this book don’t necessarily flow since it is a collection of blog posts, but there is great value in many of them. I was able to identify people I know who fit many of his examples, and he had good advice for how to handle people who work or think differently from you. I think this is valuable for both new and experienced managers.