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The New One Minute Manager

Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
ISBN-13: 978-0008128043

I'm not and have never been a people person, but I try. I am and have always been a techy. I managed teams at two different companies before I formed Naked Element. In both cases I was as green as I was cabbage looking. I had a lot to learn about managing up and down and what encourages and discourages people. Unfortunately I didn't have the best guidance either.

When I want to get better at software development or Agile or something else technical, I consult experienced people to learn. In most cases, for me, this involves reading a book. So why should it be any different for people? Well, people are more complex than software development, Agile or any other tech, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from other's experience.

The One Minute Manager is a book about people and how to get the best from them. It describes three practices to help. One of the best things about the book isn't just the excellent advice with clear examples and explanation, but the fact it's easy to read and takes only a few hours. I read most of it one evening and finished it the next morning.

I'm not going to list the practices here - go read the book. It showed me what I was doing wrong, why what I was  doing didn't work and how I could improve. It's not a silver bullet, there is work I am going to have to do to get better.

The only criticism I have, other that some of the cheesy dialogue, is that there are no written examples of the first practice. I'm having to go to other sources for this, but at least they're readily available.

If you feel you could be better at managing people, and even if you think you're already good at it, start with this book and get better. I've already started doing the practices and I'm looking forward to the results.

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