Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology

Chapter 4. The Nature of Geekwork

The third member of the tripartite relationship is geekwork. Here, organizational culture and individual personalities interact with knowledge work to form an unusual dynamic that often confounds leaders unaccustomed to working with geeks, as well as some who are. The character of geekwork doesn't conform to many common assumptions or images of the workplace, turning some long-held beliefs on their heads. In this chapter, we take a look at some of the unique characteristics and constraints that geekwork imposes on both geeks and leaders. In the next chapter, we examine more closely how geeks perform geekwork.

Failure ...