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Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

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Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#21

Post by hongzi »

Creativity, Inc. [1] It's not a textbook but a really fun read for the inside stories that pushed Pixar to its success. Maybe it's just me personally but I found it hard to follow some syllabus to learn management --- instead, I enjoy being inspired by other great managers through their concrete stories.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FUZQYBO/

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#22

Post by pjmorris »

asplake wrote: post #9

It's years since I read it but Gerald Weinberg's Becoming a Technical Leader. The best general book on leadership I've read for a while is Marquet's Turn the Ship Around – great also as an audiobook. I referenced the latter in my own Right to Left: The digital leader's guide to Lean and Agile (arguably a leadership book too)

'If you are a good leader,

Who talks little,

They will say,

When your work is done,

And your aim fulfilled,

“We did it ourselves.”'

- Lao Tse, quoted in 'Becoming a Technical Leader'

I heartily second 'Becoming a Technical Leader.' The exercises there are designed to get you to think about and grow in the situation that you are currently in, so the book will be a perennial.

I'd add that Weinberg also produced a four-volume series, 'Quality Software Management', where he sums up all he learned about project management in his programming, management and consulting careers. He later republished the material in a series of smaller eBooks [0] at LeanPub.

I know of no better written resources for people who want to learn to manage software development in a way that accomplishes the technical tasks while respecting the people who do the work.

[0] https://leanpub.com/b/qualitysoftware

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#23

Post by siddhant »

I run Developer to Manager (https://devtomanager.com), where we interview tech leaders and ask them for advice they have for someone new to this field.

I'm of course biased, but I do feel it's turning out to be a good resource. Feedback is always welcome!

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#28

Post by abhiyerra »

Bumerang wrote: post #18

Everything by Simon Sinek, but most important for me is "Leaders Eat Last" [0]. I haven't read the last one (The Infinite Game), but I've heard it's pretty good as well. Also Extreme Ownership [1] and Dichotomy of Leadership [2] by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. All of these books had tremendous impact on me as a leader and I highly recommend them. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/B... […

Leaders Eat Last was one of the best books I read this year. Extreme Ownership was also quite good but Simon really explains the “Why” of leadership that most books are missing. High-Output Management is another classic.

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#30

Post by bakenator »

When managing people in tech, I think it is equally as important to know how to organize as it is to know how to lead. I would recommend "The Phoenix Project" and "The Unicorn Project" and "The Goal" to all tech managers.

No matter how good your communication/leadership skills are, your team will be severely handicapped if they are working in an inefficient/limiting environment.

Coming at the same lessons from a different perspective, I have also found "Turn The Ship Around!" to be a very good resource.

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