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The Management Myth
2 recommendations

The Management Myth

Why the Experts Keep Getting it Wrong

by Matthew Stewart

Recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson and Heinemeier Hansson

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Should I read this?

Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Business, and Nonfiction.

Fresh from Oxford with a degree in philosophy and no particular interest in business, Matthew Stewart might not have seemed a likely candidate to become a consultant. But soon he was telling veteran managers how to run their companies.In narrating his own illfated (and often hilarious) odyssey at a toptier firm, Stewart turns the consultants merc...

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Why recommended

Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Business, and Nonfiction.

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D

David Heinemeier Hansson

This reminded me that I needed to recommend the fantastic book The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart. In it, you get the bullshit history of Scientific Management, along with an exposé on just the kind of fraud that its popularizer, F. Winslow Taylor.

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High Output Management
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Not sure if this is the right fit?

Consider High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove. Recommended by 29 sources.

A lean, engineering-minded manual that treats management as a craft of maximizing leverage. Grove explains how to run meetings, set objectives, and evaluate performance with a clarity that cuts through typical business jargon. The book's value is its direct, actionable frameworks—like the "breakfast factory" analogy—that make abstract management tasks concrete. But its 1980s context shows: the examples feel dated, and it assumes a manufacturing mindset that may not translate smoothly to today's creative or remote teams. Some sections read like an internal memo—either refreshingly honest or disappointingly dry.

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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.

The Management Myth

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