Managing Humans is a set of guides to managing software engineers written by a practicing software manager.  It is organized into several sections dealing with  managing, process, and people.  The insights are simple, though I am not sure that everyone is ready for them.  Five years ago I don’t think I would have.

I got stuck at the chapter “What Does a Manager Do All Day?” for a couple of weeks.  The answer to the question?  A manager listens to stories all day, tries to fit them into his internal “design patterns” (AKA, experience) and look through the spin.  I stopped because that seems to be a lot of what I do these days, and I didn’t realized I had become a manager.  Argh!

I’m back on track reading the rest of the book…