Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

news.ycombinator.com

11–20 of 116 posts

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#11
post #2

What "tech lead" means varies hugely from organization to organization and from team to team and person to person. For general success of teams, this is my favorite book: https://www.amazon.com/Debugging-Teams-Productivity-through-...

you can get pdf of this book free from http://cdn.oreillystatic.com/pdf/Debugging_Teams.pdf (legal)

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#12

> Do you have any recommendation on what should I do Research. Why? Because this question has been asked dozens if not hundreds of times.

One of the skills of a tech lead (or parent, or anyone) is recognizing when a person may just be seeking recognition and politely playing along.

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#13
Congrats on the transition! I have several books to recommend that I all read are on my bookshelf, some with reviews[1]. YMMV vary but these were the most helpful for me:

1. The First 90 Days - a good reminder that when you transition, it's like starting a new job

2. Become and Effective Software Engineering Manager - a hands-on book for people transitioning to management, starting at a new company or looking to make more of an org-wide impact.

3. The Manager's Path - a short reference handbook for managers at all levels.

4. The Goal - written in the '80s, yet a timeless novel on what management is about, may that be a manager of a team, an organization or an industrial plant.

Also, I wrote a post about my learnings on transitioning from engineer to manager that has some good comments on HN[2]

[1] https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/my-reading-list/#engineer...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15326652

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#14
post #12

> Do you have any recommendation on what should I do Research. Why? Because this question has been asked dozens if not hundreds of times.

One of the skills of a tech lead (or parent, or anyone) is recognizing when a person may just be seeking recognition and politely playing along.

That's a great point!

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#15

Congrats on the transition! I have several books to recommend that I all read are on my bookshelf, some with reviews[1]. YMMV vary but these were the most helpful for me: 1. The First 90 Days - a good reminder that when you transition, it's like starting a new job 2. Become and Effective Software Engineering Manager - a hands-on book for people transitioning to management, starting at a new company or looking to make…

Following on from The Goal are It's Not Luck and Critical Chain. The latter of those is particularly good in combination with the more recent Phoenix Project.

Each of these books is a bit utopian or idealistic. By doing what's suggested by the guru everything magically works out. But, while not magical, the ideas really do work and help operate and understand organizations. The principles are not complex, each book can probably be summarized in a 3-5 page paper. But the "case study" (quotes because it's a fictional plant/company, not just one obscured by pseudonyms) is good for illustrating the point and the path of process improvement.

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#16
An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson was very interesting. It's a bit of a handbook and you don't necessarily have to read it cover to cover but instead you can dive into whichever section that is relevant for you at the moment: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732265186

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#18

> Do you have any recommendation on what should I do Research. Why? Because this question has been asked dozens if not hundreds of times.

Sorta feels like research is what OP is doing by asking this question in a place where presumably lots of good technical leaders hang out.

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#19
I recommend learning about, and practicing, servant leadership to the furthest extent possible in the role.

I don't have a specific book for you, so will link the wikipedia article as a jumping off point:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership

Re: Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?

#20
post #16

An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson was very interesting. It's a bit of a handbook and you don't necessarily have to read it cover to cover but instead you can dive into whichever section that is relevant for you at the moment: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732265186

I second this. Will Larson's book is definitely one of the best if not the best book I have read on the subject.

There are other good books which can add to it like "The Manager's Path" by Camille Fournier.(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XP3GJ7F/)

Post reply on HN