Making Things Happen
Mastering Project Management
by Scott Berkun · first published 2008
77% recommend23% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical guide to managing projects in real organizations, using non-technical examples. It covers organizational politics in depth and suits new managers and engineers moving into leadership.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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My two favorites for this are 'Becoming a Technical Leader', Gerald Weinberg, and 'Making Things Happen', Scott Berkun.
on “Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?” ↗…alignment with usability, branding, and revenue concerns - Making the calls about what hits the quality bar to go in/out a version of the product If you want a good start at understanding some aspects, see Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun (http://www.scottberkun.com/books/making-things-happen/).
on “What does a product manager do?” ↗…fail at almost everything and still win big Business: - soft sell: the new art of selling - essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less - the magic of thinking big - everything is negotiable - making things happen - lean customer development - what customers want - inspired: how to create products customers love - delivering happiness
on “Ask HN: Book Recommendations?” ↗Making Things Happen; Unfortunately, I read this book when it was too late for me, but definitely something to read if you ever get into management. The politics section itself is worth the price: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596517718
on “Ask HN: What books do you wish your manager would read?” ↗…has good good examples from non-technical projects based on the Project Management Institute's infamous "Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMBOK). https://amzn.com/194163110X 2. Scott Berkun's "Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Theory in Practice)". Scott was a program manager at Microsoft and describes some of the less process-oriented, more "in the trenches" aspects to managing a project. https://amzn.com/0596517718…
on “Ask HN: How can I become a proper Project Manager from a Programmer?” ↗…pretty complete introduction. It has good good examples from non-technical projects based on the Project Management Institute’s infamous “Project Management Body of Knowledge” (PMBOK). Scott Berkun’s “Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Theory in Practice)” details some of the less process-oriented, more “in the trenches” aspects to managing a project. Steve McConnell’s “Rapid Development: Taming Wild…
on “Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?” ↗…helping organizations, teams, and people achieve their goals, both technical and personal. He wrote many books on the topics you mention, all of them worthwhile. I picked this one as a place to start. 'Making Things Happen', Scott Berkun. Berkun was a successful developer and product manager at Microsoft and the book captures his reflections and research on project management.
on “Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?” ↗I enjoyed “Making Things Happen” by Scott Berkun. You can start with the blog [1] to see if you like the style and probably get a good overview without needing the book. Other than that, there is the standard set of PMP prep resources,…
on “Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?” ↗Peopleware by Tom Dermaco & Timothy Lister. Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun. Bu I haven’t finished reading it yet.
on “Doing is normally distributed, learning is log-normal” ↗Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun.
on “Ask HN: are there any "must read" product management books?” ↗'Making Things Happen', Scott Berkun
on “Books I recommend to my software engineering students” ↗Just buy these two books. You won't use everything in both, but they will give you enough ideas and perspective to make them both very worth reading: "Making Things Happen" - OReilly "The Art of Agile Development"
on “ASK HN: How to plan and manage a large web project?” ↗…[0] writes amazingly on this topic. Read his articles, read his books. I read "The Art of Project Management" [1] in 2005 and still go back to it. Good luck! 0: http://scottberkun.com/ 1: Now called "MAKING THINGS HAPPEN: MASTERING PROJECT MANAGEMENT" http://scottberkun.com/books/#post-52
on “What to do if you're just semi-technical?” ↗…résignez pas ! (Bruno Le Maire - French politician) * Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age (Michael Hiltzik) * Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble (Dan Lyons) * Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Scott Berkun) * Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (Thomas Sowell) * The Success of Open Source (Steve Weber) * Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗1. The Annotated Turing - Charles Petzold 2. SICP (going very slow) 3. Findability - Peter Morville 4. Making Things Happen - Scott Berkun
on “What are you reading?” ↗