http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Humans-Humorous-Software-Engineering/dp/159059844X/

I browsed this book at border's the other day... and i have to say it looks very promising but i couldn't afford a book right now so i didn't buy it.

The author first mentions how we consider managers as evil, but while there are a few that are evil it's easy to tell which ones are by asking a few questions at an interview. My favorite was this one:

 what is your weakness? because if they say they got it all covered then they are either so arrogant to believe they have no faults or they have so many weaknesses they would prefer to hide and really are evil

THe next thing he talked about that i liked was how to deal with people freaking out in your office. he says never to freak on the freak, but to remain calm and find the 'issue' in their freak and address it. Then also be mindful of the fact that This person believe their only way to reach you is by freaking out. This may be a weakness in your ability to acknowledge and handle roadblocks proactively.

Then the last piece i read was about about meetings.

Basically, there's different types of meetings. One is agenda based, and you have a clear goal and when that goal is met the meeting is over. These are easy.

However there is informational meetings where there are talkers and listeners. If you're not a talker then your job is to listen and understand then get out of there. So don't go asking silly questions that are off topic or derailing the talkers. Sure, feel free to get clarification on the content but stick to the talker's agenda or your just that windbag running the meeting long. (wow , i've been that guy!)

Then there's con-meetings. Basically, there are cons who have some issue they need addressed so they drag everyone in and are start complaining. "Gosh darn marketing they screwed us up this time". Then there are pros who could solve the problem or are the root of the problem however some might use the tactic of empathizing right along with the cons (bait and switch) "oh yea those marketing guys what a buncha jerks". So this can go on and on and on and just because you hit the time limit doesn't mean it stops because the cons will be scheduling a follow up meeting as soon as they get back to their desk. If this is to be resolved someone (even a pawn) needs to identify the pros who can do something about this and engage them in the meeting to address the issue and resolve it.

Anyhow, this book looked good and i definitely can learn something from the meeting chapter! :)