© Michael Lopp 2016

Michael Lopp, Managing Humans, 10.1007/978-1-4842-2158-7_14

14. Managementese

The language you use defines your leadership

Michael Lopp

(1)Los Gatos, California, USA

One of my teams is facing a big, fat decision regarding future product direction, and the process has split the team in half: the Yes We Shoulds and the No Way in Hells. The manager of the team is facing a rebellion and is spending much of his time trying to drive the team toward a decision.

I walked by his office, where he was talking with one of the No Way in Hells, trying to influence her to come over to the other side of the fence. I overheard a snippet of his conversation: “I think it’s a key decision and I’m asking you to think outside of the box . . .”

I cringed. ...

Get Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager, Third Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.