Hello, tomorrow we are gathering at the same table development leaders from various well-known companies - 6 eternal questions: how to measure the effectiveness of development, implement changes, hire, and so on. Well, the day before, we decided to raise the seventh eternal question - what to read in order to grow?
Professional literature is a complex issue, especially when it comes to literature for IT executives. To understand what to spend the eternally lacking time on, we polled the subscribers of the "Teamlead Leonid" channel and collected a selection of fifty books*. And then we added the reviews of our team leaders to the most popular ones. Since the list below is deeply subjective and based on reviews of people you donβt know, we will evaluate the literature in βspherical owlsβ.
1. βJedi techniques. How to educate your monkey, empty the inbox and save mental fuel β / Maxim Dorofeev
TL; DR
From the book you will learn:
- how our thinking and memory are arranged;
- where we lose thought fuel β we waste our brain resource;
- how to keep mental fuel, concentrate, correctly formulate tasks and recover for productive work;
- how to implement all the knowledge gained in life and avoid common mistakes.
I would advise everyone to start improving time management with this book. But, if you have already read several books, then I am sure that you will also find many techniques and ideas in this one. Good for *everyone*. Easy to read, great language. I also wrote out all the books from the notes and added them to my backlog.
Rating: 6,50 spherical owls.
2. Deadline. The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management / Tom DeMarco
TL; DR
All the principles of good management are described here in an interesting and unobtrusive form of a business novel.
If some people, evaluating you as a brilliant leader, kidnap you, take you to a foreign country and offer to lead an interesting project on very favorable terms, then you will exactly go the way of the protagonist of this book.
Rating: 5,79 spherical owls.
3. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team / Patrick Lencioni
TL; DR
The head of a high-tech company resigned because the company was falling apart before his eyes. βManagers have perfected the art of setting each other up. The team lost the spirit of unity and camaraderie, it was replaced by a tedious obligation. Any work was delayed, the quality fell. After a while, a new leader comes to the company and the situation is even more tense - Katherine is determined to deal with the problems of the management team, which almost led a successful company to collapse.
This business novel is about how to competently build a corporate environment. A technology company that is on the brink of decline gets a new leader and starts to build the management team, or rather, rebuild it. Following the heroes, the reader will learn about the five vices that can destroy any team, as well as how to neutralize them and turn your previously mismatched team into a squad of winners.
Rating: 5,57 spherical owls.
4. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Powerful Personal Development Tools (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic) / Stephen R. Covey
TL; DR
Firstly, this book outlines a systematic approach to the definition of life goals, human priorities. These goals are different for everyone, but the book helps to understand yourself and clearly articulate life priorities. Secondly, the book shows how to achieve these goals. And thirdly, the book shows how each person can become a better person.
This book is worth reading in order to better understand people (including yourself). Here it is best explained on what principles people's behavior is based, how it manifests itself outwardly, how it affects our lives and relationships with others. It also tells, with examples, what principles can be used and how to develop your skills for more effective interaction with people and with yourself.
Rating: 5,44 spherical owls.
5. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering / Frederick Phillips Brooks
TL; DR
Frederic Brooks's book on project management in software development.
The author (born 1931) is an American computer scientist who managed the development of OS/360 at IBM. In 1999 he was awarded the Turing Award.
Not a bad book overall, but chances are you already know 90% of its content from citations from other sources. It reads quite easily and quickly, it was not a pity for the time spent. It is important to remember that the book is old and some of the theses presented in it turned out to be erroneous.
Rating: 5,14 spherical owls.
6. Goal 1, Goal 2, Goal 3 (THE GOAL) / Eliyahu M. Goldratt
TL; DR
The book is intended for leaders of organizations who want to improve their business and learn how to overcome inevitable crises.
I almost stopped reading because of the factory, which is run on the basis of some strange indicators that slow everything down. And then I remembered my experience in other companies and realized that it was very vital and I read more in order to understand how such problems are solved from the human side. The most important thought of the book is taken out in the title: to determine the goal and endlessly strive for it.
Rating: 4,91 spherical owls.
7. How to herd cats. Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers
/ J. Hank Rainwater
TL; DR
How to Graze Cats is a book about leadership and leadership, about how to combine the first with the second. This is, if you like, a dictionary of difficult cases of IT project management.
The book will be useful for those who from programmers have moved to the leading position of a manager or team leader. This is especially true for small teams of 4-7 people who are simultaneously involved in several projects.
Rating: 4,65 spherical owls.
More usefulness:
* β 50 books in Russian and English with annotations
* development management, which we will discuss with the guys from Avito, Yandex, Tinkoff, Dodo Pizza, Plesk, Agima, CIAN and Mos.ru
ps
What did you read from this list and what would you advise colleagues?
Only registered users can participate in the survey. , you are welcome.
Which of these books have you read?
-
"Jedi Tech"
-
Deadline. A novel about project management
-
"The Five Vices of a Team"
-
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
-
"Mythical Man-Month"
-
"Target"
-
"How to Graze Cats"
72 users voted. 32 users abstained.
Source: habr.com