4 ms·

Ask HN: What is good book about hiring developers and team management?

10 points by 8draco8 9y ago

tucaz 9y ago
Although this is a very good question it is at the same time one that is very broad. What do you want to know specifically? Hiring processes? How to deal with people? How to handle tough situations? From experience I can tell that most of the time by speaking the truth and respecting people you will be fine and get amazing results, but just like your question this answer is too broad to be useful.
cottonseed 9y ago
For management: Manager's Path by Camille Fournier: https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897 https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Grow...
zapperdapper 9y ago
Joel at Joel on Software has written about "hiring developers" on his blog. That could be a good starting point. "Team management" is a very broad area. One skill I wasn't familiar with when I was a manager (I was winging it mostly) was coaching. There are a couple of great books on coaching in the workplace by Julie Starr - I've found her work very useful. You might also find it worth reading "Happy hour is nine to five" by Alexander Kjerulf. It pays to know what makes for a happy workplace as a manager, as many people switch companies due to bad managers, not the work itself!
black_cat 9y ago
I've got several recommendation about this book "Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers", hope it might help
vladholubiev 9y ago
I highly recommend this one: https://www.hello-startup.net https://www.hello-startup.net > This book will teach you how to build products, technologies, and teams in a startup environment. It's based on the experiences of the author, Yevgeniy (Jim) Brikman, as well as interviews with programmers from some of the most successful startups of the last decade, including Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, Stripe, Instagram, AdMob, Pinterest, and many others.
mindcrash 9y ago
In regard to management: - The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford (IT Revolution Press, 2013) - Manage It! by Johanna Rothman (Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2007) - Team Geek by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman (O' Reilly, 2012) - Managing Humans by Michael Lopp (Apress, 2012)
cottsak 9y ago
More "team management" than hiring in particular https://leanpub.com/agileforleads/ https://leanpub.com/agileforleads/ But the process and team environment that I'm encouraging in the above playbook will attract and keep the best team players. At least, that's been my experience. The book is also Free.

10 points by 8draco8 9y ago

Although this is a very good question it is at the same time one that is very broad. What do you want to know specifically? Hiring processes? How to deal with people? How to handle tough situations? From experience I can tell that most of the time by speaking the truth and respecting people you will be fine and get amazing results, but just like your question this answer is too broad to be useful.

cottonseed 9y ago

For management: Manager's Path by Camille Fournier: https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897 https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Grow...

zapperdapper 9y ago

Joel at Joel on Software has written about "hiring developers" on his blog. That could be a good starting point. "Team management" is a very broad area. One skill I wasn't familiar with when I was a manager (I was winging it mostly) was coaching. There are a couple of great books on coaching in the workplace by Julie Starr - I've found her work very useful. You might also find it worth reading "Happy hour is nine to five" by Alexander Kjerulf. It pays to know what makes for a happy workplace as a manager, as many people switch companies due to bad managers, not the work itself!

black_cat 9y ago

I've got several recommendation about this book "Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers", hope it might help

vladholubiev 9y ago

I highly recommend this one: https://www.hello-startup.net https://www.hello-startup.net > This book will teach you how to build products, technologies, and teams in a startup environment. It's based on the experiences of the author, Yevgeniy (Jim) Brikman, as well as interviews with programmers from some of the most successful startups of the last decade, including Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, Stripe, Instagram, AdMob, Pinterest, and many others.

mindcrash 9y ago

In regard to management: - The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford (IT Revolution Press, 2013) - Manage It! by Johanna Rothman (Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2007) - Team Geek by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman (O' Reilly, 2012) - Managing Humans by Michael Lopp (Apress, 2012)

cottsak 9y ago

More "team management" than hiring in particular https://leanpub.com/agileforleads/ https://leanpub.com/agileforleads/ But the process and team environment that I'm encouraging in the above playbook will attract and keep the best team players. At least, that's been my experience. The book is also Free.