Micromanagement leads to mistrust, lack of autonomy, demotivation. Undermanagement leads to isolation, bewilderment, cluelessness. Just-right management (“Goldilocks”) leads to increase in engagement.
- Why Humble People Make Better Decisions - by Drake Baer. Takeaway: A Duke University research study shows that people with high "intellectual humility" are more open to the information coming their way, as a form of "information sensitivity." This means they end up making more informed decisions than those who need to be right and ignore evidence.
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The 48 Laws of Power - by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers. A history of power, condensed into 48 laws. Book notes by Joe Goldberg here.
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How to “Get out of the Way” - by Phil Sarin. Takeaways: Remove mechanisms of control: examples include estimation, meetings, sprints; increase focus (eliminate projects and reduce the number of priorities to 1-2); give authority to choose any approach that would lead to success. Need strong agreement on the goals of the project. If your managing principle is trust and not control, then people matter more than processes do.
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How to Handle “The Situation” - by Michael Lopp. Takeaway: a) Do I understand the complete context, b) am I the right person to handle it, c) do I trust my information, d) are there any inconsistencies and do I understand them, e) do I understand my biases, f) do I understand my emotional state relative to the issue, and g) can I coherently explain multiple perspectives of it?
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Identify Leaders By Giving People Assignments - by Brad Feld. Takeaway: categorize the responses in one of three ways: 50% vanish; 25% do the assignment; and 25% make shit happen well beyond what the assignment was—these are the leaders.
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Managing for Progress and the Loss-Aversion Principle - by Tom Tunguz. Takeaway: "The best managers craft roles and assign projects that position their teammates to see and feel the result of their work directly."
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“Screaming Monkey” analogy - by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass. Takeaway: Think of each work item as a screaming monkey, and ask these questions to identify the important ones: Should we even fed the monkey?; Who should feed the monkey?
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Situational Leadership Theory - Wikipedia entry. Takeaways: Proficiency depends on knowledge, ability, and aptitude; commitment describes motivation, interest, enthusiasm, and confidence; different levels of proficiency/commitment need different amounts of direction/support.
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Turn the Ship Around! How to Create Leadership at Every Level - by Stan Skrabut. Review of David Marquet's book, which is divided into four sections: Starting Over, Control, Competence, and Clarity. More notes by Joe Goldberg here.
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Why Delegate? - by Margaret Gould Stewart. Takeaway: “If there isn’t something going off the rails on your team, then I know you’re micro-managing them. You’re good at what you do, and if you stay in the weeds on everything, you’ll keep things going perfectly, for a while. But eventually two things will happen. One, you’ll burn out. And two, you’ll eventually start to seriously piss off your team. So I better see some things going sideways, on a fairly regular basis.”
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Do You Feel Pressure or Do You Apply Pressure? - by Ben Horowitz. About using “pressure” as an analogy for delegation.
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How to Put the Right Amount of Pressure on Your Team - by Liane Davey. Takeaway: There’s an ideal level of stress; be mindful of it and modulate.
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Management Is Not About Asking People to do Stuff - by Steven Sinofsky. Takeaway: "[M]anagers should not ask people on the team to do yucky work that the manager doesn’t want to do. Or said another way, if there’s something yucky to be done then managers should join in. That’s all well and good, but is also just basic civility I think."
- Uniquely HR - by Gary Ford. Takeaway: Influence is the power to affect someone/something without directly forcing them. It’s about establishing credibility, finding common ground, and connecting emotionally. A systemic approach to influencing.