Management Books
Technology and management reads that I like, with a note on what each one is good for.
How Big Things Get Done
Analyzes a database of large projects across sectors and concludes that planning is essential to project success. But it has to be good planning. Good planning is the iterated, increasingly realistic dress rehearsal for the real thing. So rigorous agile is a form of good planning.
Top 3 riskiest projects:
- Nuclear power plants
- Olympic Games
- IT projects 🤯
Wiring the Winning Organization
Introduces a theory of organizational management that brings together ideas from Agile, Lean, the Toyota Production System, and other traditions.
Performance mechanisms:
- Slowification
- Simplification
- Amplification
Good Strategy / Bad Strategy
Debunks strategy as another name for a mission, vision, goal, or plan. The numerous historical examples told with insight and humor are worth the price alone.
Accelerate
The book that introduced DORA metrics. A still-relevant classic.
Key metrics:
- Change lead time
- Deployment frequency
- Change fail %
- Mean time to recovery
Flow Engineering
Value Stream Mapping for the rest of us. A lightweight, iterative, and collaborative method that is remote whiteboard friendly.
The Crux
More goodness on strategy from Rumelt. Goes further into the how of strategy compared to Good Strategy / Bad Strategy.
Team Topologies
How you organize your teams and their interactions is crucial to effective delivery.
Four types of teams:
- Stream-aligned
- Enabling
- Complicated subsystem
- Platform
The Software Architect Elevator
If a company is a tall building, architects need to ride the elevator and stop on every floor. A no-nonsense and fundamentally practical guide to enterprise architecture.
The DevOps Handbook
Case studies and practical guides to implementing DevOps principles.
The Manager’s Path
What does going into a management role from a technical one really look and feel like? What will you actually be doing at each step of the way?
This is the best description of that I’ve read, by an author who took that journey. If you are thinking about going into management, read this first and make an informed decision.
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Most predictions are bad and most people are bad at predictions. A certain set of people are better than average at predictions and they:
- Start with a reference class to establish a baseline.
- Adjust up and down from the baseline using the particular details of the prediction being made.
- Constantly update their predictions when new information arrives.
- Constantly look for new information to use.
