5 Sep
2006

Behind Closed Doors, Secrets of Great Management

I am becoming more and more a fan of Esther Derby.? I heard her speak several times at Agile 2006 with Diana Larson and knew then that I would be seeking out more of?their collective?wisdom, despite their admission that they create scrapbooks like other Midwestern women.??

Esther has?a very plain spoken, but effective communication style with which she imparts the secrets of the softer side of software development.? Esther?does a great job of drawing our?attention to the soft skills that we will don’t want to admit to needing in our technology jobs.?

Her Pragmatic Programmers book, Behind Closed Doors?is? a wonderful example of this.? Her fictional Director level manager, Sam, joins ABC Company and finds his way through the first seven weeks on the job, dealing with the issues of his direct reports, peers, and supervisors.

While the examples and discussions may be somewhat remedial for hardened long-term managers with years of experience behind them, this is the kind of book all of us needed at one time or another.? Regardless of your experience, there is almost certainly something you will learn as Sam works his team through the Storming, Forming, Norming, and Performing phases.

The last half of the book is a quick reference guide for running meetings, coaching, giving feedback, and 1000 other things that I wish I had read 7-8 years ago.

Thank you, Esther.

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