@dominik · read in 2016
I’ve long been a reader of Rands in Repose, the author’s blog. This book contains some of the best essays from that blog, plus more, and provides a useful set of rubrics and lenses through which to view software engineering specifically and the technology industry more generally. Read this understand how giant tech companies actually get work done and the vital importance of middle managers: “A successful organization is built of layers of people that are glued together with managers. Each layer is responsible for a broad task, be it engineering or QA or marketing. Between each layer is a manager whose job it is to translate from one layer to the next . . . in both directions. He knows what his employees want. He knows what his manager wants, and he’s able to successfully navigate when those wants differ.” This book teaches how to be most effective as a manager in the middle between all those overlapping layers.