103: The Org You Were Born Into with Marcus Blankenship

October 31st, 2018 · 1 hr 7 mins

About this Episode

01:12 – Marcus’ Superpower: Helping Engineers Become Good Bosses

02:30 – Bosses Who Don’t Wanna Boss: Ending Up in Management

The Peter Principle

10:37 – Are there people who just aren’t cut out for management or leadership?

14:20 – Applying Rationality to Organizations

20:23 – Alignment Not Agreement

24:52 – Is there a safe way to try and fail at management? Trying on Hats

Ruby For Good

31:16 – What does “BOSS” mean?

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

36:03 – The Up/Down of the Hierarchy

Metaphors We Live By

Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling by Edgar H. Schein

36:03 – What are the skills that good managers have? How do you know if you’re doing a good job?

Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager by Michael Lopp

Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams by Mickey W. Mantle and Ron Lichty

53:26 – Giving and Receiving Feedback and Support, Reinforcing Behavior, and Focusing Attention

Reflections:

Jamey: Management vs. leadership.

Sam: “I need this from you,” vs. “Why didn’t you do this?”

Jess: When we react to something, it’s rarely about the thing we think we’re reacting to.

Career narratives by Will Larson

Additionally, management is like being on stage and you can be uncomfortable in your own role.

Marcus: Listening to others is critical and impactful. Also, letting people taste and see what it’s like to be in management and leadership without the commitment.

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