Naomi Karten

Not to be sarcastic but "Managing Expectations" didn't fully satisfy my expectations. Given the book and paragraphs titles I was expecting something more oriented to self improvement in the context of general team dynamics and project management. But the book on the other hand focuses mostly on managing expectations in the context of a "service provider" to "service customer" interaction.
Of course the same concepts described in the book can be valid also in other scenarios, for other roles than "provider" and "customer".
We may also be tempted to think that most working interactions can be traced back to a provider to customer relationship but in my opinion that would be a dangerous oversimplification, things are not really that easy.
By the way most of the examples in the book describe customer service, pre-sales, product management experiences. If you work in these fields you may probably enjoy more the read.… (más)

This is a very readable (as it should be) text on communication. Karten does a good job of laying the foundation of communication in the first 4 chapters where she talks about the roles of senders and receivers in communication. Nothing in these chapters is really groundbreaking, but it sets the field for what is to come. Chapters 5-8 relate communication to the building of relationships. There are important ideas about how to build strong foundations, appreciate differences in people, trying to see the other person's point of view, and maintaining relationships. In these first two sections, one of the repeated themes is paying attention to the other person. Other people are different than we are, and we need to allow them to be themselves.

The last two sections of the book deal with customer service and managing change. The customer service section seemed pretty straightforward to me. If you are having problems with your customer interactions, chapters 9-11 have some good ideas for improvement. Chapters 12-13 deal with managing change. Most people have a hard time with change. In chapter 12, Karten presents a few models for explaining change; however, she focuses on the Satir model. The main takeaway for me was that people will struggle with change, and you cannot expect otherwise. Chapter 13 presents some good tips for how to communicate effectively when leading change.

The advice in the book is practical, but it will require discipline to make the changes necessary to improve your communication skills.… (más)