Top all-time · #9576
David Maister
Personal blog · davidmaister.com/articlesbusinesscareer
David Maister's personal blog at davidmaister.com covers business and career. Since 2010, 8 different Hacker News readers have linked it 10 times, most often “1985: The Psychology of Waiting Lines”. The last post was in 2008, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers recommend David Maister's site for practical business and professional-services advice, especially on consulting firms, client relationships and managing professionals.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- 1985: The Psychology of Waiting Lines3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2013-03-19
- /2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-05-28
What Hacker News says?
1. Get a good grip on how to understand and interpret the finances of your company. Especially the concept of cash flow. A book I can recommend it https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5152210-financial-intell... 2. Learn to play the sales and marketing game. As engineers, we often underestimate the value of presentation. Showing up for a meeting well dressed and groomed has a really positive effect on a prospective c…
Comment linking /books/mtpsf/
on “Ask HN: What was your experience starting a tech consultancy?”Submitted The Psychology of Waiting Lines as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIt's right there in the article: > With this data, JFK is able to display accurate wait times to reduce passenger frustration and to notify staffing if areas in the terminal are becoming congested, so staff can identify and rectify bottlenecks before they escalate. If you're confused about the first part, there is research that shows waiting for an unknown amount of time causes more anxiety than if the wait time is…
Comment linking /articles/the-psychology-of-waiting-lines/
on “JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones”Submitted The Anatomy of a Consulting Firm as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSince we are talking about Consulting a must read is the work on professional service firms by former HBS Prof. David Maister. His website is super ugly ( http://davidmaister.com/ ) but his advice is timeless, esp. since his writing is a lot about building the long-term client-consultant relationship.
Comment linking /
on “So you want to be a consultant?”Submitted 1985: The Psychology of Waiting Lines as a story · 2 points
HN discussionAnd reminds me of this: http://davidmaister.com/articles/the-psychology-of-waiting-l... "Sasser (et al) provide good examples of both managing the perception and the expectation of waiting times. For the former, they offer the example of ‘the well-known hotel group that received complaints from guests about excessive waiting times for elevators. After an analysis of how elevator service might be improved, it was sug…
Comment linking /articles/the-psychology-of-waiting-lines/
on “The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic”For business and marketing books and other media, David Maister at http://davidmaister.com/ IMHO he's better than Heller, Harvey-Jones, McCormack and even Drucker.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favourite books?”David Maister at http://davidmaister.com/ I find him more practical than Drucker, Harvey-Jones and Robert Heller.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Your top business book recommendations?”I think the main parts of project management are to take the heat from upper management and remove roadblocks so my people can do their work. The best information I've found is David Maister's "Managing Professionals" at http://davidmaister.com/podcasts.archives/3/ He's more practical than Drucker, Harvey-Jones and Heller. They say what to do; Maister says how to do it.
Comment linking /podcasts.archives/3/
on “Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about project management?”
