Book: Managing Einsteins

Managing Einsteins:Leading High-Tech Workers in the Digital Age

"In many workplaces, especially high-tech ones, managers and those they manage are operating on parallel tracks, with different sets of motivations, expectations and rewards. How to keep tech workers happy, given that they likely don't want the same things as their bosses, and certainly would choose different ways to achieve them? The long-suffering Jim Richards submitted this review of Managing Einsteins, a book which attempts to inject some sanity into the situation by clueing managers in on what it is their programmers and other tech workers might actually want in a workplace. Read on for his review." [Slashdot]

From the review itself:

"The mains themes throughout the book are:

• Managers should be honest with their workers about the company's successes and failures
• The point of management is to guide and suggest not to be autocratic (the metaphor of herding cats was used to illustrate this)
• Let the Einsteins have freedom in work environment (location - there is a whole chapter on telecommuting, hours and style)
• Einsteins are project-focused, not job-focused
• They value training and education highly
• They require a stimulating and fun work place."

Reading the review reminded me of Bruce Tulgan's Managing Generation X: How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent. Many of the principles outlined between the two of them provide a roadmap for how to keep me happy and working at my best. I imagine a lot of the folks in libraries who have become the "techie" by default would appreciate these themes, too.