Category: Books
The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier.
Promoted as a guide to help you grow as a technology manager, this book offers valuable quotes, interesting examples, and references to other books. Unfortunately, I found it to be a waste of my money and time. Read on to find out why.
Why "The Manager's Path" is not a best book of all time.
Let me tell you a story how I imagine the background of this book.
Camille Fournier was always the best student in the class, sitting next to the teacher, being active and prepared. To be better than the smart ones.
At some point in her career, she was encouraged to write a book about her experiences as a successful manager. Instead of sharing her own knowledge and insights, she did what she did best in school: compiling research from other sources and attempting to create a book. Cool? Nope.
This ultimately led to a collection of randomly-assembled thoughts from various authors, resulting in inconsistent advice throughout the book. For example, Camille advises readers early on to come prepared for one-on-one meetings but not give status reports, only to later suggest that managers must deal with their reporters seriously if they don't provide status reports - contradicting her own advice. This is just one of many signs, there is no author vision in the book.
In conclusion, while there are some valuable pieces of information within the book courtesy of other authors, there is no consistent story being told and no unique insight being provided by Camille herself. My advice would be to read the original sources instead of relying on Camille's copy.
Michal
