I have read two books in the past week about the “One Minute Manager” theme. Originally I thought I was going to combine my review/thoughts in a single post, then I decided I should separate them. I intended to write a review on The One Minute Manager (the “first” book) before reading The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey (the “second” book or the “monkey” book), but I had time to kill while waiting for WiX installation builds to finish.

Now, the monkey book is fresh in my mind and my sister is thumbing through the first book as I write this. As a result, my reviews will be posted in the reverse order in which I read them. In short, I didn’t enjoy the monkey book as much as the first book, though there is still a good amount of ideas on how to better manage your time by managing those you are responsible for.

My coworker read the monkey book before passing it on to me. Just after he finished it, we went into sprint planning and there was an argument between two of my team members (one was the aforementioned coworker). He later told me he was thinking about what he had learned in the monkey book and how time was being wasted when our other teammate wasn’t providing any solutions. I guess in the terminology of the book, our teammate wasn’t providing any “next steps” just a lot of “I don’t know”‘s. Yet our teammate was still insisting on arguing with my coworker over how a particular PBI was going to be done.

Unfortunately after reading the book myself and reflecting back on that event, I am not particularly riled up myself though I do understand my coworker’s frustrations. I think mentally and development-wise, I am not yet in that position to take the advice/suggestions/wisdom/etc. from the book and apply it to myself. I’m sure my review will miss several key points as nothing really seemed to stick in my mind.

I actually found the book a little droll compared to the first book, which was a single narrative all the way through. The monkey book started off the same way, which made the first 50 or so pages fly by, but then it turned into a lecture with dry story-telling of multiple examples in presumably a real workplace. The book is about 130-ish pages so I was much less engaged with most of the book.

The monkey theme could really be replaced with any other object that’s heavy and sticks on your back, much like monkeys. The absurdity makes it easier to remember. A quote from the book is “A monkey is the next move.” Whoever’s back the monkey is on is the person responsible for the next move. The trick to managing is making sure the monkeys are on the appropriate backs.

Of course this is easier said than done, so there are additional bits of wisdom like the four rules of “monkey management” – 1) monkeys (next moves) are described, 2) monkeys are assigned to a person, 3) risk is addressed and covered, and 4) monkeys are revisited in the sense of check-ups (was it taken care of, is there a new problem associated with the monkey, etc.). The important takeaway is to “ensure that the right things get done the right way at the right time by the right people.” (emphasis original to the book)

Another bit of wisdom is the difference between assigning and delegating. While it took several pages for the concept to sink in for me, according to the book, assigning involves one monkey while delegating involves a family of monkeys. Basically, if you are telling someone what to do one task at a time, you are assigning. If you are telling someone at a higher level what needs to be achieved (e.g., a vision) then you are delegating.

There is a caveat and it is the one quote I marked in the book:

Managers must not, indeed cannot, delegate until they are reasonably confident that (1) the project is on the right track, and (2) their people can successfully handle the project on their own. Managers who give their people full project responsibility and authority without such confidence are not delegating–they are abdicating responsibility.

Finally, there’s a section on the different kinds of time. Boss-imposed time is time you’d spend if you did not have a boss (e.g., a boss not telling you want needs to get done). System-imposed time is time that is “meta” to the work you have to do, such as spending time filling out the necessary paperwork to request purchases or I suppose even paperwork related to your performance review. Self-imposed time is time spent at your discretion, whether you use it wisely or not.

Again, perhaps I am not quite ready for this book, but I found it less engaging than its predecessor. I only marked one quote whereas with the first book I felt like I was marking nearly every page. I may need to reread this book a few years from now to see if I still have the same opinion.