Ask HN: What books or blogs do you suggest to manage a team of techies

by jamram82on 10/25/2010, 4:21 AMwith 15 comments

I recently took a position of team lead, managing a team of 8 tech people. I managed projects not people before. Could you suggest any books or blogs on how to manage tech teams.

by Zevon 10/25/2010, 5:04 AM

Rands. At the very least, his blog: http://randsinrepose.com. But, his book - Managing Humans - is great as well: http://www.managinghumans.com.

by alanthonycon 10/25/2010, 5:38 AM

You should read Drive, by Dan Pink.

It's not a management book, per se, but it's great for gaining undersanding into why people work and what truly motivates them.

EDIT: His talk at the TED conference:

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

by tkaemmingon 10/25/2010, 5:57 AM

The Mythical Man Month — it's a fairly popular read, and it's topic lies somewhere between managing projects and managing people and focuses on the "human element" of software engineering: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month

by nevsteron 10/25/2010, 4:35 AM

Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

by MaysonLon 10/25/2010, 7:11 AM

Gerald Weinberg's The Psychology of Computer Programming is a classic, well worth reading. Also second the recommendations for The Mythical Man Month and Peopleware

by BANSALon 10/25/2010, 5:39 AM

For me Paul Graham's essay are real worth inspiration and teachings. I just follow his essay more than any other readings. I prefer to explore you his essays, can give you a nice insight. http://www.purchase.com/blog/fundraising/3-tips-for-startup-... this is here his essays you can find. http://paulgraham.com/

by anonymouslambdaon 10/25/2010, 5:41 AM

http://joelonsoftware.com/

Scroll down, check out the articles in the "Reading Lists" column.

by petervandijckon 10/25/2010, 12:37 PM

Christina Wodtke's Blueprints for the web http://amzn.to/cTDimh is about information architecture, but is full of tangential wisdom about managing web teams. I learnt more this book than from other books that are actually about managing teams.

by aaronblohowiakon 10/25/2010, 7:23 AM

you manage products, you lead people.