CHAPTER12
Saying No
Somewhere in your third year of being a manager, the management pixies will appear in your office in a puff of sweet-smelling black smoke. There will be three of them, and one will be carrying a gorgeous black top hat.
"Are you LeRoy McManager?"
"I am."
The pixies laugh. "Congratulations, you have passed successfully through three years of management and we're here to reward you. But first, one question: Have you seen Spider-Man?"
"The first one or the sequel?"
"The first one."
"I have."
The pixies laugh again. "What do you think is the primary theme in Spider-Man, LeRoy McManager?"
"Um, hmmmm ... Life's a bitch?"
Strangely, the pixies don't laugh. "No, try again. It's important."
"OK, well. Hmmmm ... Peter's uncle said something ...
Get MANAGING HUMANS: BITING AND HUMOROUS TALES OF A SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGER 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.
