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The Team that Managed Itself: A Story of Leadership
417 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 22, 2019
118 people are currently reading
1149 people want to read
About the author
Christina Wodtke
14 books175 followersAn established thought leader in Silicon Valley, Christina is a “curious human” with a serious resume. Her past work includes re-design and initial product offerings with LinkedIn, MySpace, Zynga, Yahoo! and others, as well as founding three startups, an online design magazine called Boxes and Arrows, and co-founding the Information Architecture Institute. She is currently a Lecturer at Stanford in the HCI group in the Computer Science department.
Christina teaches worldwide on the intersection of human innovation and high-performing teams. She uses the power of story to connect with audiences and readers through speaking and her Amazon category-bestselling books. Christina’s work is personable, insightful, knowledgeable, and engaging.
Her books include Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web, Pencil Me In, and The Team that Managed Itself. Her bestselling book is a business fable called Radical Focus, which tackles the OKR movement through the powerful story of Hanna and Jack’s struggling tea startup. When the two receive an ultimatum from their only investor, they must learn how to employ OKRs and radical focus to get the right things done.
To connect with Christina or to get more information on how to become a whole-mind, high performing team, visit http://cwodtke.com/ or http://www.eleganthack.com.
Christina teaches worldwide on the intersection of human innovation and high-performing teams. She uses the power of story to connect with audiences and readers through speaking and her Amazon category-bestselling books. Christina’s work is personable, insightful, knowledgeable, and engaging.
Her books include Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web, Pencil Me In, and The Team that Managed Itself. Her bestselling book is a business fable called Radical Focus, which tackles the OKR movement through the powerful story of Hanna and Jack’s struggling tea startup. When the two receive an ultimatum from their only investor, they must learn how to employ OKRs and radical focus to get the right things done.
To connect with Christina or to get more information on how to become a whole-mind, high performing team, visit http://cwodtke.com/ or http://www.eleganthack.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
October 23, 2019
I need a time machine to give this book to my to my 20-something self when he was doing an awful job of being a manager. If you feel like you've been Peter Principled to your level of incompetence Christina's book will let you know you're not alone — taking hard learned lessons and wrapped them up into a great story of how to build your own management practice.
If you're new to management and leadership, or thinking about moving into management and leadership — you wanna read this. Now.
If you're mentoring / bringing on new managers/leaders — you're gonna find a reminder of how hard some of those first steps are, and some great tips for pushing those folk forward.
Recommended.
If you're new to management and leadership, or thinking about moving into management and leadership — you wanna read this. Now.
If you're mentoring / bringing on new managers/leaders — you're gonna find a reminder of how hard some of those first steps are, and some great tips for pushing those folk forward.
Recommended.
January 10, 2021
I'm very glad, that I've read this book now. That was exactly what I needed. I'm also happily surprised, because the fable part of this book was written in a game development software company :) It fits very well to my current work environment, although we do not create games.
The book is divided in two parts: a fable and the model. The model is actually the part, where the most value is hidden, but it refers to the fable part. Interesting for of a book. I really liked it. The book covers a lot of topics that a leader must cover and gives examples on how this can be done: OKRs, hiring, defining roles, defining norms, 1 on 1's and coaching, feedback, firing and more. I'm very happy that I read this book. I strongly encourage it to anyone who is responsible for any of the areas mentioned in the previous sentence. Especially when you work in IT, because if you have no relationship to IT, the fable part of the book may be difficult to understand.
Thank you for the book Christina Wodtke!
The book is divided in two parts: a fable and the model. The model is actually the part, where the most value is hidden, but it refers to the fable part. Interesting for of a book. I really liked it. The book covers a lot of topics that a leader must cover and gives examples on how this can be done: OKRs, hiring, defining roles, defining norms, 1 on 1's and coaching, feedback, firing and more. I'm very happy that I read this book. I strongly encourage it to anyone who is responsible for any of the areas mentioned in the previous sentence. Especially when you work in IT, because if you have no relationship to IT, the fable part of the book may be difficult to understand.
Thank you for the book Christina Wodtke!
May 24, 2021
Some might find the novel part cringy, but I enjoyed it greatly. I saw myself and people I've met in various characters and the guidance offered in this format resonated well with me.
The second half was summarizing the concepts well, although I would have liked Christina to go deeper on some of them. I'm rating this book highly because I was able to see many other works nicely compiled in it and it's also morphing some established concepts (eg empathy maps) into something new, simple and useful you can apply to management.
Honestly, I've read this over the weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it. 5/5
The second half was summarizing the concepts well, although I would have liked Christina to go deeper on some of them. I'm rating this book highly because I was able to see many other works nicely compiled in it and it's also morphing some established concepts (eg empathy maps) into something new, simple and useful you can apply to management.
Honestly, I've read this over the weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it. 5/5
April 7, 2021
There are two parts to this book: 1) The first part a fable and 2) Insights, Wisdom, Best Practices and Excerpts from books.
The fable is a drainer and unwanted. If you are going to read this book just skip the fable and read the second part of the book. Second part is good (still dangling to write whether if this is a good read or a must read).
Why did I rate 3 stars:
1) Fable - badly written and formulated story. - 2 stars
2) Second Part of Insights / Wisdom / Best Practices - 3.5 stars
Summed it and made it as 3 stars (rounded off).
The fable is a drainer and unwanted. If you are going to read this book just skip the fable and read the second part of the book. Second part is good (still dangling to write whether if this is a good read or a must read).
Why did I rate 3 stars:
1) Fable - badly written and formulated story. - 2 stars
2) Second Part of Insights / Wisdom / Best Practices - 3.5 stars
Summed it and made it as 3 stars (rounded off).
March 3, 2021
If I had to choose one single book on how to build a better team - this is the one.
2/3 of the book is a fictional story with a protagonist getting things, similar to Phoenix Project, but focus on the topic.
1/3 are actionable steps on building and improving the team
2/3 of the book is a fictional story with a protagonist getting things, similar to Phoenix Project, but focus on the topic.
1/3 are actionable steps on building and improving the team
February 10, 2024
Very good book about written as a novel. Style reminds me a lot The tipping point from Gladwell. Super easy to read.
Covers several topics from product management, leadership and people management, coaching. Many good advices especially for young ceo in tech industry.
Covers several topics from product management, leadership and people management, coaching. Many good advices especially for young ceo in tech industry.
January 22, 2020
This is a work of fiction where the protagonist works at a video game company in a management position and faces a series of career ups and downs, compressed into first 170 pages. The rest of the book is the same lessons but in form of traditional business literature.
I had low expectations for the first part and high expectations for the second, and neither turned to be true. Fables about tech is not my cup of tea, but somehow the author managed to create a storyline that is compelling, captivating, and contains a fair amount of unexpected turns. Business literature is okay when you know what to expect, but the second part of this book didn’t make it: chapters are short and superficial, and represent a compilation of core ideas from other books about management.
The end of the book is a bit disappointing: typos, grammar mistakes, a mention of the book “The Culture Code” that actually refers to “The Culture Map”. The biggest wtf moment was that most of the second part of the book contains references to Medium posts.
The biggest advantage of this book is that it really makes you feel through all the typical managerial challenges and empathize with the protagonist. It does not, however, answer the immediate question you might ask when you look at the book cover: you won’t learn from this book how to create teams that manage themselves. Which is fine.
Bottom line, for me, the book is worth every minute I’d spent reading it.
I had low expectations for the first part and high expectations for the second, and neither turned to be true. Fables about tech is not my cup of tea, but somehow the author managed to create a storyline that is compelling, captivating, and contains a fair amount of unexpected turns. Business literature is okay when you know what to expect, but the second part of this book didn’t make it: chapters are short and superficial, and represent a compilation of core ideas from other books about management.
The end of the book is a bit disappointing: typos, grammar mistakes, a mention of the book “The Culture Code” that actually refers to “The Culture Map”. The biggest wtf moment was that most of the second part of the book contains references to Medium posts.
The biggest advantage of this book is that it really makes you feel through all the typical managerial challenges and empathize with the protagonist. It does not, however, answer the immediate question you might ask when you look at the book cover: you won’t learn from this book how to create teams that manage themselves. Which is fine.
Bottom line, for me, the book is worth every minute I’d spent reading it.
June 10, 2020
Ottimo libro perfettamente adatto a un manager che per la prima volta si accinge a gestire un Team. La prima sezione del libro e’ strutturata come un romanzo, che segue le vicende di Allie, un Product Manager in un’azienda che produce videogiochi, e che a seguito di una promozione scopre le complessita’ di gestire un team e renderlo performante. La seconda parte offre, in una maniera condensata, un perimetro di strumenti per una gestione ottimale di un team capace di apprendere e lavorare in autonomia.
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January 4, 2020Liked the story and the writing. But will have to reread it in paperback (I listed it as audio), especially the actionable part at the end to evaluate it. From the audiobook seemed like I am doing the most of the mentioned techniques already but I could do them better. However, I didn't manage to define any specific steps on how to do that - so I will have to read it in paper form.
April 14, 2021
The only new thing from her prior book is the chapter on culture and the chapter on diversity. The chapter on culture wasn't anything special compared to Straight Talk for Startups and Hard Thing About Hard Things. The chapter on diversity was just superficial identity politics. The book also does the female pronoun sexism typical of texts from silicon valley.
December 26, 2022
Christina uses same approach as in Radical Focus. Starting with a fable and diving into more detailed advice. While I really enjoyed fable in her previous book, here it looks really far-fetched. Insights are great though. Especially for people starting to understand the management.
February 22, 2020
The last part of The book was awesome. The first part was probably useful to write for the author to be able to write the last part(starting at the model)
April 13, 2020
Interesting books. If you want to know how to manage teams. Read this book. It starts with story and later on elaborate more about principles behind managing teams.
August 11, 2025
Got a lot out of this book, especially reading through it with some colleagues at work. I've not read much in the management sphere, but I liked the overall approach outlined, and found some of the concrete examples really helpful. Reflecting on the way my team works, and comparing and contrasting with the examples given proved to be a valuable exercise as well.
October 11, 2022
The work environment is so alien to mine that it was hard to identify with their situations/context.
There are a few good lessons in here, but I had to work a lot harder to glean insight from the book that I liked.
There are a few good lessons in here, but I had to work a lot harder to glean insight from the book that I liked.
September 9, 2025
I think Christina points towards the most essential and way too often ignored foundations of leading people. Get these fundamentals implemented in your team, and you'll be halfway there!
The fable could have been half the length imo, but overall pretty decent!
The fable could have been half the length imo, but overall pretty decent!
October 24, 2024
amazing guide for leaders
I loved this book, there are so many helpful tips, it’s thoughtful and just the right points to do your best to lead
I loved this book, there are so many helpful tips, it’s thoughtful and just the right points to do your best to lead
February 28, 2022
It's a kind of a novel, written by someone who is not a particularly good novelist, but who is 100% committed to the notion that some people learn better from stories than from precepts. So instead of writing a treatise about leadership, Wodtke tells a story about one woman who goes from being a Product Manager to a General Manager for an online game and has to level up really quickly to keep the game from ruin. There's one chapter where two of the characters have a conversation about feedback that strongly echoed efforts going on at my current workplace to build a culture of transparency. It's a great chapter, and reminded me that the benefits of receiving feedback more frequently, with lower emotional stakes, are so clear that it's foolish not to do everything we can to move the needle towards a more intentional culture where we feel safer both giving and receiving feedback. A lot of helpful insights, and if you get fed up with the storytelling, you can skip to the lengthy appendix where many of the same insights are served up as more direct advice. (I do think Wodtke's efforts to make the advice more concrete by spinning up a lengthy hypothetical are worthwhile and the book as a whole is worth reading.)
July 21, 2022
I already love books that are built around fables so I this book started in a high note for me.
Full disclosure, I started rewarding the ebook that the author kindly sent me but 25% in, I decided I liked the book so I ordered a physical copy of the book.
The topic of building a team that manages itself is complicated and would ordinary make for terrible reading without the benefit of rich context provided by the fable format.
Wrapping the lessons in a fable makes them more accessible, more sticky and I love the fact that the author uses the second part of the book to explain the concepts that are wrapped in the fable.
One big action I took away from this book is to create team alignment using role canvases aligned to a team canvas like the business model canvas or The SIPPR canvas just like we’d align team goals to company ones.
If you want to build a high performance team, read this book. I’d even read it before Radical Focus. But more than reading it … practice it.
Full disclosure, I started rewarding the ebook that the author kindly sent me but 25% in, I decided I liked the book so I ordered a physical copy of the book.
The topic of building a team that manages itself is complicated and would ordinary make for terrible reading without the benefit of rich context provided by the fable format.
Wrapping the lessons in a fable makes them more accessible, more sticky and I love the fact that the author uses the second part of the book to explain the concepts that are wrapped in the fable.
One big action I took away from this book is to create team alignment using role canvases aligned to a team canvas like the business model canvas or The SIPPR canvas just like we’d align team goals to company ones.
If you want to build a high performance team, read this book. I’d even read it before Radical Focus. But more than reading it … practice it.
November 2, 2019
I admit I was skeptical about the format of this book - having a fictional part first and then a part about the methodology. However, the fictional part framed the methodology well and kept this from being your standard, dry business read peppered with forced examples in the middle of chapters explaining things. It was actually enjoyable reading Allie‘s journey and made it a lot easier understanding how and when to use the proposed methods later. I am not a people manager but really wish people managers at my company employed the style of leadership and feedback proposed in this book.
It is well-written throughout and I like that Wodtke, in the methodology part, uses „she“/„her“ a lot when referring to managers. It‘s a small thing but it matters.
It is well-written throughout and I like that Wodtke, in the methodology part, uses „she“/„her“ a lot when referring to managers. It‘s a small thing but it matters.
July 22, 2023
This book serves as a valuable resource for new managers or those unfamiliar with management best practices. For readers seeking in-depth knowledge on various topics, I suggest exploring other books like Fearless Organization, Radical Focus (or any other OKR book), Radical Candor, Dare to Lead, Culture Code, The Making of a Manager, Drive, or The Art of Leadership.
The book includes a significant portion dedicated to a fable, which some readers may find engaging. However, if you prefer a book that gets straight to the point with practical insights and concrete examples, this aspect might not fully align with your preferences. Nevertheless, for those who enjoy stories interwoven with management concepts, this book could be a great fit.
The book includes a significant portion dedicated to a fable, which some readers may find engaging. However, if you prefer a book that gets straight to the point with practical insights and concrete examples, this aspect might not fully align with your preferences. Nevertheless, for those who enjoy stories interwoven with management concepts, this book could be a great fit.
August 27, 2020
The story that starts the book was a really great way to explain the theories and how to achieve a 'team that manages itself.' However, the story needed more description as I found it incredibly difficult to keep track of the characters (outside the main few) -- who was a designer? Part of the PM team? Etc.?
Moving past the story, the model was really useful. The framework supplied filled in gaps on the HOW to give feedback that was missing in Radical Candor. I'm really excited to start a role canvas for hiring references and also to advance from one job level to the next. So many good examples that I'm not even sure which path to start down first.
Moving past the story, the model was really useful. The framework supplied filled in gaps on the HOW to give feedback that was missing in Radical Candor. I'm really excited to start a role canvas for hiring references and also to advance from one job level to the next. So many good examples that I'm not even sure which path to start down first.
June 13, 2020
Throughout my career, I’ve seen how healthy team dynamics can make or break the product a team creates. Designing a good way to work together is just as important as designing the software.
Christina Wodtke is incredibly smart, and her latest book takes on this topic with a different approach from what we usually see in design books. It’s a fictional story about folks working in a tech company, centering on a leader who is learning how to help her team work together. It’s a powerful way to show, rather than explain, important concepts about building, and being part of, a team.
Christina Wodtke is incredibly smart, and her latest book takes on this topic with a different approach from what we usually see in design books. It’s a fictional story about folks working in a tech company, centering on a leader who is learning how to help her team work together. It’s a powerful way to show, rather than explain, important concepts about building, and being part of, a team.
October 9, 2020
This book is in the format of a fictitious workplace story where challenges are encountered and overcome, followed by a review of the team management lessons covered. There were some good topics explored like defining roles, new team formation, establishing norms, and delivering feedback. I didn't find the central story as compelling as other books with the same format like "The Phoenix Project" and "Five Dysfunctions of a Team" though.
January 16, 2020
Enjoying and filled with methods and techniques. It contains a short fiction story about a woman working in the game industry and afterwards an essay with a framework for teams that want to be self managed. Recommended read for team managers or for team members that want to increase the autonomy of the team.
July 29, 2020
I’m not into fiction, but I couldn’t ignore Petra Wille’s advice - a coach I greatly admire for her product & leadership skills. And fiction couldn’t be used any better to bring real-life product and cross-functional leadership challenges to life and explain key concepts. I highly recommend it anyone aspiring or doing a GM-type role in Tech.
January 4, 2020
The book is separated into two parts, the first part is the story of a newly promoted GM in a mobile game company. The second part is packed with advice, insights and exercises for leaders.
The book also contained very interesting references.
Highly recommended to new or existing leaders.
The book also contained very interesting references.
Highly recommended to new or existing leaders.
January 12, 2020
The second half of the book is really worth it, I was close to marking it down because the story in the first half felt over wordy, but the advice and points in the second half are really valuable and worth reading this book for.
October 28, 2020
Zoveel geleerd van dit boek. Ik vond de verdeling fictie/non-fictie ook erg fijn. Alle informatie die ik kan gebruiken voor mijn teams heb ik direct verzameld en gepresenteerd, nu nog in acties omzetten. Op naar betere teams!
September 25, 2021
Th book is a decent read, some good insights around how to give feedback, setting OKRs.
Using the story format for 2/3 of the book meant it was engaging and easy to flip through but was hoping for more of a deep dive on the implementation part.
Still worth a read even if you’ve read Radical Focus
Using the story format for 2/3 of the book meant it was engaging and easy to flip through but was hoping for more of a deep dive on the implementation part.
Still worth a read even if you’ve read Radical Focus
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews