The Team That Managed Itself - by Christina Wodtke (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"What if you could learn the secrets of self-managing teams like the best ones you hear about in tech startups? And what if you could learn them through a simple and compelling story about someone like you who is dealing with familiar challenges every day? And what if you could learn them from someone who has spent decades practicing, learning, and teaching these principles to those great teams? That's exactly what you'll get in Christina Wodtke's tour de force, The Team that Managed Itself."

-- Bruce McCarthy, Founder, Product Culture

An Actionable Leadership Book in the Form of a Fable

In The Team That Managed Itself, Christina Wodtke teaches leaders how to build and lead high performing teams based on her long career in the trenches in Silicon Valley. Her book is engaging, actionable--and built around a story you'll want to read.

After her boss leaves suddenly, Allie finds herself responsible for the casual gaming titan Quiltworld and the dozens of people working on the highly dysfunctional team. Can Allie learn to competently hire, fire, and give feedback in time to make the product's big sales goals? Or will the team, the buggy code, and the beloved game fall apart while Allie's job goes up in smoke?

Learn to lead the team along with Allie as she tackles one challenge after another while the clock ticks down. How do you build the right team and choose the goals to pull them to greatness, even if you're dealing with a toxic environment? How do you keep your people moving in the right direction without burning out or burning it all down? As Allie finds out, even in the face of overwhelming pressure it's about setting expectations, giving good feedback, checking in against goals, and learning as a team...

Leading so well that your team learns to manage itself? That's no fable. Learn how from Christina Wodtke.

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"In this new book, Christina has tackled what I consider the most important problem in the tech industry. Only a small fraction of product teams are working at their potential, and while there are many reasons, this is the responsibility of management, or the lack thereof. People that care enough to provide the level of coaching to help their people become first competent, and then exceptional at their craft."

--Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product Group

"The simplicity of Christina's techniques and canvases is very powerful. Buy this book if you want to accelerate your team through the storming-norming-performing curve. Her suggested approach for team member feedback is worth the price of the book alone."

-- Richard Atherton, Partner, First Human

Review Quotes

"Tired of boring business books? Jump into Christina's delightful story about teams figuring out how to work together. Before you know it, you'll be a pro at some of the most useful management techniques."

-- Braden Kowitz, Product Designer and Co-Founder at Range

"We talk a lot about autonomous and empowered teams but there's far too little real world advice on how to actually make it happen. In this excellent book, Christina does just that. Through engaging storytelling and simple frameworks she introduces a practical cadence of goals, feedback, and self-improvement we can all adopt to successfully build high performing, learning teams."

-- Martin Eriksson, Founder of Product Tank and Co-Founder of Mind the Product

"What if you could learn the secrets of self-managing teams like the best ones you hear about in tech startups? And what if you could learn them through a simple and compelling story about someone like you who is dealing with familiar challenges every day? And what if you could learn them from someone who has spent decades practicing, learning, and teaching these principles to those great teams? That's exactly what you'll get in Christina Wodtke's tour de force, The Team that Managed Itself."

-- Bruce McCarthy, Founder, Product Culture

"The simplicity of Christina's techniques and canvases is very powerful. Buy this book if you want to accelerate your team through the storming-norming-performing curve. Her suggested approach for team member feedback is worth the price of the book alone."

-- Richard Atherton, Partner, First Human

"In this new book, Christina has tackled what I consider the most important problem in the tech industry. Only a small fraction of product teams are working at their potential, and while there are many reasons, this is the responsibility of management, or the lack thereof. People that care enough to provide the level of coaching to help their people become first competent, and then exceptional at their craft."

--Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product Group