High Output Management

One of the best business books I've read in a long time. Short book, common sense and to the point. Written by Andrew Grove former CEO of Intel. I would challenge anyone to review their own workplace, their own work practices using some of Grove's ideas. Liked the simple idea on the manager's preparation for decision making: What decision needs to be made? English: Portrait of Andrew Grove. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) When does it have to be made? Who will decide? Who will need to be consulted prior to making the decision? Who will ratify or veto the dcision Who will need to be informed of the decision? Pity it does not happen more often. On meetings I think he is right: two types. Are we talking of a process oriented meeting (one-on-one, staff meetings, operations reviews) or a mission-oriented meeting? The discussion of hybrid organisations and dual reporting is straightforward and recognises the reality of how many businesses need to be structured. Liked the honesty of his section on performance appraisal. And his clarity on the importance of this process, the need for preparation and the rationale for the process in the first instance. Not sure I fully agreed with him on his views on trying to retain people who say they are going to leave. Finally - he is very clear on the manager's role and responsibility for training - including preparation and delivery of training. I would see this as a major failing with many managers in industry. And a major missed opportunity.

A fascinating read where Grove talks about how he pulled off the greatest transformation in the history of #Intel: moving from the memory business to microprocessors more than a decade after its founding. During his tenure at Intel Corporation, he described the different reorganisations that the company went through, with the only one which was effective - which just about every large company or enterprise that he knew was organised was in a hybrid form, which consisted of mission-oriented departments. This reminding me of product lines. Although it was published over 25 years ago, the management practices are timeless, where Grove touches on the negative impact of 'managerial meddling' (disempowerment) and he talks about productivity, work simplification and leverage with the goal to work smarter, not harder! As Grove says "..the single most important sentence of this book: The output of a manager is the output of the organisation units under his or her supervision or influence". The key to survival is to learn to add more value, which is ultimately what this book is about. A classic book on management, which I'd recommend.

Lots of good tips and interesting perspectives on issues both on direct people management as well as organizational level issues

I found this book a fantastic source of actionable insight. Andy approach is very pragmatic, as you would expect from someone with an engineering background, which distinguishes this book from a mass of fluffy management literature. The perfect gift for someone just moved to a management position to quickly improve, or someone more experienced that would immediately relate with situations and benefit from such a successful CEO advice.

Probably the finest management book I've ever read! I think about some of the concepts/ quote this to some of my colleagues on an almost daily basis. My absolutely favourite quote from the book which I feel like is one of the most profound misunderstanding of the business world today: <<Delegation without quality control processes is abdication>>. Thank you Andy!!!

If you know anything about this book.. you'll know it's a must read. Little heavy going.. but worth it to learn about some of those principals.

Flimsy cover and scratchy paper inside - they've really cut corners to print this edition. Yes, it's a wonderfully written management classic, but you'd hope for £10 you'd get a decent quality physical object to refer back to, rather than this throw-away low-grade thing.

This is a timeless piece of writing from a man who has seen and experienced management at the highest level. The author never gets bogged down. It is a substance filled book littered with analogies so simple to make it all easy to absorb.

One of the best books I’ve read on Management. It was tipped to me by a great entrepreneur and leader. A must read for everyone who is trying to get more understanding and thus more knowledge to put in practice. I loved the checklist in the back of the book. I’ve read the Kindle edition!

I came at this book from a different book and should have read this book first. The way Andy explains business is based in common sense and as a result it is so easy to understand. I can certainly recommend this book and once you have read this book try “Measure what matters” by John Doerr because it follows on from this book to explain about OKR’s, a tool that Andy Grove gave birth to!

A must read for anyone remotely interested in being a Leader. Despite Andy Grove's background in tech, this book is applicable in all areas of Management. If you are a leader in the tech industry you may be very familiar with OKR - the foundation of high performance culture at Google. Andy Grove is the father of OKR. Along with the many useful insights and examples, Andy introduces the reader to the MBO system - Management by Objectives. Understanding MBO will help you understand OKR. Rather than go on and on about all the valuable content jammed pack into this small book, I'm just going to tell you to pick it up and read it. It is worth every minute of your life!

I'm an avid reader, but this is the first book that has moved me to write a review. In summary it's brilliant and absolutely still 100% relevant. After finishing reading through the book, I immediately started re-reading it. In the forward by Ben Horowitz, he writes "First, in as little as one sentence, it lucidly explains concepts that require entire books from lesser writers. Second, it consistently uncovers brand-new management ideas or finds new insights into old standards. Finally, while most management books attempt to teach basic competency, High Output Management, teaches the reader how to be great." I think that's a really good summary. The first sentence is worth highlighting though. This book contains a ton of wisdom in 230 pages. If there's a flaw with the book, it's that it's too dense with wisdom. It's like an amazing teacher has condensed a full two-year Stanford MBA program into one small book. It is NOT a page turner (though he's a fine writer). There is so much in each page that you need to take breaks to think over what you just read before moving on. Regarding the forward, you can skip it the first time through. I think it's more useful as a summary review after reading through the book once.

Yes as most would mention the ideas come from a system based machine metaphor kind of thinking. Its how an Engineer and scientist works. However all the ideas are thought provoking and fully applicable in the current environment. I have used most of the ideas in the book and can vouch they work in my case. It is a constant process of doing, testing and improving. Hope you will find it practical and useful as well