Customer Rating:  
Summary: Good management introduction
Comment: Behind Closed Doors takes a different approach for a management book - it follows the first seven weeks of a new (external) manager coming into a company and shows, step-by-step, what the new manager does and why. The book then covers 13 key techniques presented as general guidelines. While much of the approach works well, unfortunately the book is inconsistent. For example, while it is geared towards new managers, the new manager in the book is a director - a manager of managers. While that does help illustrate involvement between a manager and his/her (perfect) boss, the book really doesn't illustrate much about the manager's relationships with anyone else. The book is also a little technologically backward by not recognizing/suggesting software tools to aid in certain cases. For example, a BVC (Big Visible Chart, e.g. large whiteboard) is still recommended for portfolio project management, despite the huge drawback that it does not keep track of history.
Overall, there are many positive points to this book, including a fresh perspective, enjoyable to read prose, and especially the 13 key techniques. For new managers, I would definitely recommend this book. For experienced managers, it might serve as a decent review of the fundamentals, but it probably won't be a huge help.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Greate Management 101 book
Comment: Practical approach to management. This book shows the application of good management practices using real-world scenarios. It is easy to read and written in such a way that you can instantly start applying its concepts in your environment.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Practical Indeed!
Comment: I am very skeptical of most business improvement books and one size fits all methodologies, but I can tell you that this book absolutely shines as a glint of hope in the sea of business improvement noise. As opposed to trying to force a given technique that will apply to everyone in every business, this book provides some very "real" examples that exist in the software development world and some very simple concepts and techniques that can be used. This book is not written like an academic book of problems and solutions, but more of a story based book on a "real world" scenario, which truly solidifies the pragmatic name of the publisher. This pragmatic approach makes the book very easy to read, understand, and ultimately use. I think if you use at least one or two of the techniques presented in this book such as One-on-Ones and Big Visual Charts (BVCs) that the book will have more than paid for itself in terms of the time you will have spent reading it and of course the money!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Guide for New and Seasoned Managers of Knowledge Workers
Comment: This is an excellent work that guided me though my first formal management experience. The book weaves its lessons into a story which helped you to understand how to apply what you learned. Like many important books, it explains some simple rules that can be difficult to execute in practice. The downside of reading this book is that you may realized that you're not being managed well (or have not been in the past) and you can no longer live in blissful ignorance. All technical managers at all levels should have read a copy of this book. The section on having one on ones by itself is worth the price.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Basic solid info covered in fluff
Comment: Having gone through a recent re-org that calls itself "new" 6 months after the fact, a 2-hour reading of this book was able to bullet point a good many ways the new management chain is screwing up. Nothing in this book is actually "secret" (it's all pragmatic) and very little happens "behind closed doors" (by the time you're there, something's gone wrong), but it's a good primer to read for a new manager or a good primer to pummel a pointy-haired boss with when they're doing nothing right. The fictionalized case study running through the book didn't appeal to me, but the drawn out points and sidebars were well (that is "concisely") written.
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