41–50 of 57 posts
anything by W. Edwards Deming
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Four-Days-Dr-Deming-Management/dp/0201...
* Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5 Software engineering in particular attracts some extreme personalities. There are elements of narcissism, OCD, borderline, avoidance, etc. in every organization, even if it would not necessarily warrant a diagnosis. People have irrational motivations. This is often ignored in the rational business of software.
Atlas Shrugged, but he's not the 'reading books' type of guy. Atlas Shrugged's Taggart Transcontinental is the company I wish I could work for. I hate the nitpicking and bad attitude that I currently deal with. I took this job to write code and make money, why do I have to go to all these stupid meetings, read these stupid e-mails, use Slack, answer this stupid desk-phone etc? 'Going to work' is what is killing my wo…
I call that work about work. Most of it's needless.
They say it's to help us get better results, etc, but I think it's really about adding meaning to their work life. Or just to their life.
I'm a recent developer-turned-manager [close to two years now] and have always been a voracious reader.
Apart from specialist books of the profession, as an introvert I find that a healthy dose of fiction helps me in my day-to-day dealings with people at the workplace - especially those who report to me.
[https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201401...] [https://open.buffer.com/reading-fiction/]
^^ As such, I'd recommend some well-written fiction. Try The Godfather - always thought it was the best "people management" book :-)
Fantasy [or novels with a touch of the fantastic] would also be good.
War books are also good. Try some interesting non-fiction - I'd recommend WW II books by Stephen Ambrose. All about teamwork and beats reading dry management books.
You should probably stay away from satire, lest your manager think you a d*ck ;)
Before you do any of this, you should probably find out if your manager is in the habit of reading.
And despite the best advice, what a reader gets from any book depends on what she brings to it...so don't be surprised if reading doesn't help your manager :D
This list is heavily skewed toward self-organization because I work for a company (Zappos) that is currently transitioning to a self-organization model. I thought I'd answer the question about what books I wish my "manager" would read even though I don't have a manager because in a self-org environment, you do have leaders that emerge organically. The main difference between "manager" and "leader" is that managers influence their charges with coersion (even if subtle and unintentional) while a leaders ability to influence comes from the bottom-up and is more meritocratic based on perceived experience and ability by those being led.
Most companies hope to promote the leaders so their manager structure is reflective of the actual effective social leadership structure, but all companies get it wrong often.
By definition if you know what your manager should be doing you're in the wrong position.
Not everyone is suited to, or wants to be a manager. That doesn't mean that we haven't learned about management in our careers. And I do think we all can learn from everyone around us.
Newer Stuff: Nine Stories (Salinger), The Razor's Edge (Maugham), Nausea (Sartre), Siddartha (Hesse), Road to Serfdom (Hayek), The Book (Watts), Design of Everyday Things (Norman), Atlas Shrugged (Rand), Invisible Man (Ellison), Debunking Economics (Keen), Blood Meridian (McCarthy), The Center Cannot Hold (Saks), This Time Is Different (Reinhart/Rogoff), Infinite Jest (Wallace), Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson)
All of these books are well written and have given me some perspective on interesting people/situations/ways of thinking.
Peopleware has great insights for both managers and programmers. Recommended read for both.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is amazing and I happened to read it at just the right time in my life where it shaped a lot of how I think about technology and the different ways to approach it.
Care to explain? I didn't really get anything like that from the book.