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Favorite Books

These are my favorite books about software engineering, often focused on building high performance engineering teams and cultures.

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The DevOps Handbook

The DevOps Handbook

A pragmatic devops guide for SREs and developers

Accelerate

Accelerate

Metrics on software delivery performance

Peopleware

Peopleware

A holistic and people-first view of software engineering management

The Phoenix Project

The Phoenix Project

A novel about transformational leadership in technology

Making Work Visible

Making Work Visible

Fantastic description of using kanban boards to improve software delivery

Never Split the Difference

Never Split the Difference

Practical guide to everyday negotiations

The Lean Startup

The Lean Startup

Exploring and implementing the Build-Measure-Learn model

Monolith to Microservices

Monolith to Microservices

The tradeoffs and implementation patterns of microservices

On Writing Well

On Writing Well

The practical guide to non-fiction writing

Code Complete

Code Complete

The book every junior to mid-level engineer should read to improve their code

Clean Code

Clean Code

The book on code quality I wish every engineering job applicant would read

Clean Architecture

Clean Architecture

Pragmatic advice for transforming readable code into a solid architecture

Ask Your Developer

Ask Your Developer

How one world class software company leverages developers to drive business success

The Cold Start Problem

The Cold Start Problem

Driving growth with network effects

How Google Works

How Google Works

Practical advice on product strategy and people management

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

The no-nonsense book about engineering and startup leadership

The Manager's Path

The Manager's Path

The definitive guide to understanding expectations at each level of engineering management

No Rules Rules

No Rules Rules

How Netflix culture and operations support innovation

Masters of Doom

Masters of Doom

The story behind Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, and Doom

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Rebirth of a struggling leadership team

Range

Range

Developing expertise through sampling periods, slow learning, and breadth

The Mythical Man Month

The Mythical Man Month

The origin of Brooks’s Law and look into the counterintuitive world of software engineering management

The Staff Engineer’s Path

The Staff Engineer’s Path

What it takes to succeed as a Staff Engineer

Unlocking the Clubhouse

Unlocking the Clubhouse

Research on the gender gap in computer science

Difficult Conversations

Difficult Conversations

Pragmatic advice with examples for initiating and executing difficult conversations

High Output Management

High Output Management

The engineering management book everyone references

Founders at Work

Founders at Work

Startup stories and tech history

Extreme Programming Explained

Extreme Programming Explained

Principles and practices of agile development

The Unicorn Project

The Unicorn Project

A story about rebellion against bureaucracy and corporate politics to delivery customer results

The Effective Executive

The Effective Executive

Improve organizational performance through leadership

Hackers & Painters

Hackers & Painters

The culture and languages of makers

Staff Engineer

Staff Engineer

Beyond senior engineer on the technical leadership track

First, Break All the Rules

First, Break All the Rules

Leveraging talent to drive individual and team performance

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Quality is hard to define but we know it exists somewhere

Brotopia

Brotopia

The book I wish everyone would read before pontificating about how to get more women into tech

Doing Agile Right

Doing Agile Right

Developing agile enterprises by extending agile principles to business support functions