Team Geek
by Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick · first published 2012
92% recommend8% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short, practical guide to working well with others on software teams, covering collaboration and people issues rather than code. Recommended for developers moving into technical leadership, mentoring, or team dynamics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
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i enjoyed reading the book Team Geek http://www.amazon.com/Team-Geek-Software-Developers-Working/...
on “Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?” ↗…- This book provides a fictional narrative about transforming an IT department, offering valuable insights into DevOps practices and the challenges of scaling technology within an organization. 2. "Team Geek" by Ben Collins-Sussman and Jennifer Greene - As a CTO, managing and leading your engineering team is crucial. This book focuses on building effective engineering teams, fostering collaboration, and…
on “Ask HN: What books would you recommend to newly appointed ScaleUp CTO?” ↗…alternative as a change? Have you been given the opportunity to lead others technically and or mentor? Would using your experience and doing technical leadership (not management) interest you? I quite like Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman as an gentle intro. Do you have a path for your career development? Are you doing what you know…
on “Ask HN: How do you decide what to do in your working life?” ↗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)
on “Ask HN: What is good book about hiring developers and team management?” ↗[I recall posting this here in the past, but worth re-posting.] The "handy rule" from the book Team Geek -- the newer edition is called Debugging Teams[1]. It's from chapter "Offensive versus Defensive work": [...] After this bad experience, Ben began to categorize all work as either “offensive” or “defensive.”…
on “Technical Debt” ↗I think "Team Geek" [0] is probably worth a mention in this light. It's written in that infuriating cutesy techy-language that seems to infuse a lot of the "hipper" books of this genre but there really is some good advice…
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗…and you'll be closer to the truth. The reason developers are "hard" to manage is that they're in demand, so they don't have to put up with bad or abusive management. That said.. I'd recommend reading Team Geek (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018025.do) if you have any ambition to move into a management or leadership role.
on “How do you manage a team of geeks?” ↗…his early books (Analysis Patterns). I'm surprised that you didn't mention The Pragmatic Programmer.. I think that a lot of the people here (and who read your blog) could do worse than to check out "Team Geek". It's about people, not programming, but the impact it has had on me is equal to PoEAA..
on “The Programming Books That Meant The Most To Me” ↗…that they expect to get more productivity out of their employees through additional hours on a regular basis; this has been proven repeatedly over hundreds of years to be a fallacy. I suggest you read Team Geek and maybe Peopleware to get a feel on what good managers should be doing... though it will probably make you want to leave your job even more, which is probably not a bad thing.
on “Ask HN: Never worked in a startup before, not sure if this is normal” ↗…perspective, I have found 'The Mature Optimization Handbook' invaluable: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/the-matu... (HN discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6763683) 'Team Geek' is a great primer on technical leadership: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018025.do Another recommended book is 'Shipping Greatness': http://shippinggreatness.com Assuming you're already familiar…
on “Ask HN: Dev promoted to more strategic role in startup. What literature?” ↗In that section, would like to add recommendations for: - "Being Geek: The Software Developer's Career Handbook" https://www.amazon.com/Being-Geek-Software-Developers-Handbo... - "Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others" http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018025.do -- Software engineering teamwork a-b-c. I'd love to work on teams where everyone has read this…
on “Ask HN: Which non-programming books are a beneficial read for programmers?” ↗"The pragmatic Programmer" is one I would recommend. That, and "Team Geek", in term of relationship with codes and teammates.
on ““Clean Code, Horrible Performance” Discussion” ↗…thus every team constellation was set to fail like a cruise missile. Once a organisational culture is set, it is very difficult to change [1], especially if you can't replace the head of the beast. [1] Team Geek - A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, Ben Collins-Sussman
on “Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?” ↗This reminds me of the following, from the book Team Geek[1], chapter "Offensive" Versus "Defensive" Work: [...] After this bad experience, Ben began to categorize all work as either “offensive” or “defensive.” Offensive work is typically effort toward new…
on “A Taxonomy of Technical Debt” ↗Speaking of technical debt, you might want to remember the following 'handy rule' from the book Team Geek[1], chapter "Offensive" Versus "Defensive" Work: [...] After this bad experience, Ben began to categorize all work as either “offensive” or “defensive.” Offensive work is typically effort toward new…
on “Ask HN: As a CTO, what is your most frustrating problem with technical debt?” ↗