Recommended with reservations.
Paul Grenyer reached out to me to review So You Think You Can Lead a Team? after reading a previous ACCU review I had written on another software leadership title. I read this book in PDF form on a Kindle Oasis, which worked reasonably well, though the fixed layout formatting resulted in a smaller font than ideal. That is more a limitation of PDFs on e-ink devices than of the book itself, but it did shape the reading experience. It also appears to be available in a more native Kindle format that likely adapts sizing and positioning better.
Going in, I expected a more expertise-driven treatment of software leadership – either a deeper synthesis of established ideas or a more foundational presentation of the author’s own. Instead, the book positions itself quite differently. Grenyer is explicit that he is not an expert, and the book reads as one practitioner’s attempt to distill what he has learned from others and from his own career. That approach is not inherently a weakness; modelling a learning mindset can be valuable, especially for new team leads. But I found myself wishing the book leaned more intentionally into that framing.
The early chapters are heavily padded with quotations and endorsements. Much of the first half feels like introductory narrative interspersed with comments from colleagues, mentors, and reviewers. None of this is objectionable on its own, but the density and placement of quotations give the opening sections a padded feel. The pacing is quick – my Kindle reported 50% completion before I felt I had encountered much substantive material – and the conversational tone reflects the book’s origin as a conference presentation.
The middle of the book is where the content becomes more substantial. Grenyer’s main contribution is the organisational structure he uses to frame the role of a team lead:
- Talk to your team
- ‘Doing the work’ isn’t the only way to add value
- Remember to delegate
- Pick your disagreements
- See the bigger picture
These themes are not new in the leadership literature, but the way he arranges and narrates them reflects his own experience. For me, the most personally useful idea was ‘pick your disagreements’, which he reframes from the more combative ‘pick your battles’. It is a gentle but important reminder that not every difference of opinion warrants escalation, and that discernment is a leadership skill in its own right.
The book’s use of ChatGPT is mentioned openly. Grenyer uses it as a collaboration partner to explore wording and structure rather than as a generator of finished prose. The result is not ‘AI slop’, and the author’s voice remains present throughout. That said, the transparency around LLM usage does not meaningfully strengthen the material. As with any tool – whether a calculator or a grammar checker – the responsibility for the final work rests with the author. Because the book does not lean into the LLM angle as a theme or case study, the disclosure may deter some readers without offering compensating insight. For those curious about how an LLM can support idea organisation, however, the book may serve as an interesting example.
Compared to more established leadership texts – The Manager’s Path, Peopleware, Accelerate, or even the broader genre of Covey style frameworks – this book sits closer to a blog than a book narrative. It offers anecdotes and reflections rather than models or systems. It does not attempt to market a grand theory of leadership, which is refreshing in its own way, but it also means the book adds little beyond what its cited sources already cover.
The ideal reader is someone stepping into leadership for the first time, with little or no prior exposure to management literature. Such a reader may appreciate the conversational tone, the personal stories, and the curated references to deeper sources. The book may also interest those who want to see how an LLM can be used to help synthesise and organise ideas during the writing process. Experienced team leads or readers who have already engaged with leadership material will likely find the book too introductory and too reliant on external sources to offer much new.
Overall, So You Think You Can Lead a Team? is a sincere and approachable account of one engineer’s evolving understanding of leadership. It is not a foundational text, nor does it aim to be. For the right audience – new leads or readers curious about LLM assisted writing – it may be a helpful starting point. For others, it will feel light compared to the more established works in the field.
Website: https://paulgrenyer.com/so-you-think-you-can-lead-a-team
