The Making of a Manager
by Julie Zhuo · first published 2019
93% recommend7% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Concise, clearly written, actionable guide for first-time managers and ICs moving into management, covering what a manager is responsible for, feedback, and hiring, told from the author's own experience.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Congratulations, you're a manager! After you pop the champagne, accept the shiny new title, and step into this thrilling next chapter of your career, the truth descends like a fog: you don't really know what you're doing. That's exactly how Julie Zhuo felt when she became a rookie manager at the age of twenty-five. She stared at a long list of challenges--from hiring to firing, from meeting to messaging, from planning to pitching--and faced a thousand questions and uncertainties. How was she supposed to spin teamwork into value? How could she be a good steward of her reports' careers? What w
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The best management book I read this year was "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhou [1]. The book is concise, clearly written and actionable. It's specifically written for first time managers and the author is a design lead at Facebook. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Manager-What-Everyone-Looks/dp...
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗Wow very nice summary of the main ideas of the book, I totally agree, this book is worth reading... I was reading reading "the making of a manager" by Julie Zhuo earlier this month (which b.t.w. I personally think is a very good book), in her book she mentioned the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie (at first I was a…
on “Ask HN: What people skills do you wish you learned earlier in your career?” ↗…book, written my one of the first Facebook front-end devs, and she was also interviewed about this topic on an HBR Ideacast podcast... https://hbr.org/podcast/2019/08/the-challenges-and-triumphs-... The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735219567
on “Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?” ↗…Y" of a very introvert person carries more weight than same sentence of someone that can easily discuss things they don't like openly. Edit: As you have asked specifically for books, I can recommend "Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo. It is a very good and structured read.
on “Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?” ↗“Making of a manager” by Julie Zhuo was great read for me. It covers the transformation of individual contributor to a manager. Well written. Give it a try.
on “A reading list for new engineering managers” ↗…way I felt reading Manager's Path. It's even a bit insulting that it's targeted at engineers, furthering the narrative that engineers are bad communicators. Much better books in this space are "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo and "Elegant Puzzle" by Will Larson. Both very insightful and actionable. The latter is a bit dense though.
on “An incomplete list of skills senior engineers need, beyond coding” ↗I'd recommend Julie Zhuo's The Making of a Manager. She's got a twitter https://twitter.com/joulee where you could check out her sharing of managerial wisdom to have your own gauge. This book focuses on the practical side like sharing useful feedback,…
on “Ask HN: Books to read when you transform from SWE into SWE Management?” ↗…Drucker) - Managing Humans (Michael Lopp) - The Art of Leadership (Michael Lopp) - High Output Management (Andy Grove) - Managing Oneself (Peter Drucker) - Essentials: Management (First Round Capital) - The Making of a Manager (Julie Zhuo) - The Powell Principles (Oren Harari) - Radical Candor (Kim Scott) - Leading Matters (John L. Hennessy) (fantastic book list in the coda) - Turn the Ship Around (L. David Marquet) (this is…
on “Ask HN: What books helped you in your entrepreneurship journey?” ↗This was a nice succinct writeup. On the topic, here are some books I'd recommend for ICs making the jump to a manager role (or thinking about it): 1. The Making of a Manager (https://www.amazon.com/Making-Manager-What-Everyone-Looks-eb...) 2. The Manager's Path (https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Grow...) 3. Crucial Conversations (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-...)…
on “Manager'ing: An Overview for New Managers” ↗A few good books I can recommend The Effective Executive Making of a Manager ReWork Start with your own mindset around this topic first, then roll out a system and/or tool to make it happen.
on “Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?” ↗Read: The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhou (VP of product design at FB) It clearly explains what a manager is and what he is responsible for and how to be a good manager. It also reads easily as it's a well-written book. She defines…
on “Ask HN: How to Be a Decent Manager?” ↗I read both this and "The Making of a Manager", and I've got to say, "The Making of a Manager" has much better advice and is a lot easier to act on than what Manager's Path gives. I think the primary difference is what point in their careers the…
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗…need to learn about the tactical part of PM and the soft skills required to excel at your job. The Ultimate Product Management Guide: which you can download for free here https://bit.ly/31YhGUu The Making of a Manager https://bit.ly/2ZOo4eb
on “Ask HN: Best books to transition from development to product management?” ↗…engineering it’s relatively rare for people who are good developers to be interested in management. There are two books I highly recommend to anyone considering this move. The Manager’s Path is one. The Making of a Manager is the other. If you have any concrete questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Contact info is in the profile.
on “Ask HN: How to move from dev role to management/team lead role?” ↗…engineering managers and would be happy to connect (see my HN profile for contact info). Here are some resources for new engineering managers that I routinely use: https://themanagershandbook.com/ Book: The Making of a Manager - A first person account of what you may discover and learn as you grow as a manager. - Lots of concrete tips intermingled with personal stories. - Great for discovering what you don't know that you…
on “What the Goddamn Hell Is Going on in the Tech Industry? – Ludicity” ↗