I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for name dropping books, authors and quotes in conversation. While I’m sure it’s helpful sometimes, I don’t think the woman in the checkout line at QFC cares where my alignment strategies come from. I thought I’d take a post to share some of my go-to books, and also talk about something that’s becoming a bit of a recurring theme here - learning.
“Finding” Books (and information)
Someone asked recently how I discover books to read - and I think it’s worth a walkthrough, as my reading inspiration comes from a few different angles. Sometimes, it’s just an author I like - I will always read every book released by Patrick Lencioni, Malcom Gladwell, Dan Pink, Dan and Chip Heath, and probably a few others. Sometimes I choose to read a book because one of those books mentions another book. I also read a lot of blogs and newsletters that sometimes mention books that sound interesting. I also have found a fair number of good reading ideas from the podcasts I listen to.
One slightly abstract place I find reading ideas is from book reviews. I’m far too busy lazy to form or join any kind of book club, but often enough when I finish a book, I will google `“Book Name”` review, and read reviews that random internet strangers have written about the book. It’s a virtual book club where only I’m invited. I like to see how others have interpreted things, and if they have the same big takeaways and observations as I do. And - when another book is mentioned, I’ll take note. Or, when a review that aligns with my thinking a lot comes up, I’ll see what other books that poster has reviewed and consider those for my reading list (and a belated and virtual thank-you to everyone who’s joined my virtual book club).
The “long” list
I do read a lot - but overall not that much. I read 20-30 books a year usually, and not all of those are business non-fiction. Of those 20-30, some are books I’m re-reading, and of the new books, usually 3-4 make some kind of lasting impression on me. If I’m lucky, of course, one of the new books makes it into the re-read rotation.
The “short” list
After all that, here’s the inevitably incomplete list. Some, that I’ve listed below, have made a lasting impression on me, but for all of those listed, there are piles of others that I’ve consumed and undoubtedly unconsciously absorbed something. But - thesee books (in no particular order) are the things that I read or refer to extremely often:
Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren et al. This is the book that introduced the DORA metrics - along with examples of how to do good engineer surveys. Lots of nuggets here on how to help teams ship with higher quality. As a side note, I have been trying to build up the nerve to ask Nicole to be on the AB Testing Podcast for years now - especially after discovering that we share a birthday. Maybe 2023 will be the year…
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. I am a pretty big Pat Lencioni fan, but this is the book that talks about how freaking important Trust is in order to be successful. Without Trust, you can’t have Conflict (debate / Best Ideas Win). Without Conflict, you won’t get commitment across the team. Without Conflict, you won’t have Accountability, and without Accountability, you can’t truly deliver Results.
The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. I forgot to include this when I shared this list with some folks at work, but this is the one piece of non-fiction that Lencioni has written, and it’s a concise, pragmatic, and fact filled book on how to drive alignment in an organization (hint: it’s all about clarity and organizational health).
Leadership on the Line, by Ronald Heifetz. This book, most famously, is the source of the quote I use most often - “Leadership is disappointing people at a level they can absorb”. Overall, the book is about the difference between technical challenges (where the solution is wholly or mostly known) and adaptive challenges (where we have to discover the solution as we go), and on the premise that the single most common source of leadership failure is treating adaptive challenges like technical problems. This is the book to read and draw from when you need to change mindsets.
The Principles of Product Development Flow, by Donald Reinertsen. What do you call a 100% utilized freeway? A parking lot. This book is filled with wonderful nuggets of knowledge on how to optimize software delivery. To be fair, it’s also filled with more than a few confusing topics. That said, as a reference book, it’s constantly near me and I use it weekly to help me think of how I want teams to work in order to be most efficient.
Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra. To me, this is one of the most underrated books in tech (or I don’t swim in the right circles). It’s full of ideas and reminders that we’re not just building cool shit - we’re trying to build cool shit that people will love. I re-read this frequently to remind me that only customers can truly judge the quality of software.
Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Simply a book on feedback. More importantly feedback where the feedback is given from a stance of Care Personally, Challenge Directly - which also aligns with what numerous studies show improves employee engagement. It also calls out the management trap I see a lot (Ruinous Empathy), where a manager is more worried about employees liking them than giving them the feedback they need to grow and improve.
How To Measure Anything by Doug Hubbard. This is the book that taught me how to measure with confidence levels (I’m 80% sure that I have fewer than 10 pencils in my house”) instead of absolutes to estimate. Hubbard shows (as my experiments in delivery estimation have also proven) that by practicing confidence levels over absolutes, that we get better at predicting. Lots of math, but lots of great information too.
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Maybe the original fail-fast book - and not just for startups. Ries goes through example after example on how to generate learning opportunities from our software development efforts. Right along with Badass, this is one of those books I go to for ideas when I don’t feel like we’re learning enough from what we’re delivering to customers.
The Fearless Organization, by Amy Edmondson. This is (afaik) the original book on Psychological Safety. It’s filled with examples and data on a topic I value a lot (and why it’s on my frequent re-read list).
Measure What Matters by John Doerr and Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke. A lot of people/teams do OKRs poorly because they don’t get OKRs. They don’t know why they’re doing them or what benefit they provide. In two completely different (yet valuable ways), these two books have become my reference for OKRs. Doerr’s book is the canonical reference (with data and details) and Wodtke’s book puts a pragmatic spin on OKRs inside of a well-written business fable.
I’m probably missing a few, but that’s at least a good start. I think it’s also worth mentioning a few podcasts worth listening to.
The SuperManagers Podcast - high quality guests and interviews. There is rarely an episode I don’t like.
At The Table - it’s a Pat Lencioni podcast, so I have to listen to it. It can be hit or miss, but the hit-nuggets are mega-valuable
I listen to The Knowledge Project podcast - it’s always interesting, but not always about leadership. A recent episode is comprised entirely of clips of interviews with leaders (from previous episodes), and is packed full of great info.
Bits and Books
These days, I mostly read on Kindle (currently reading The Advice Trap, by Michael Bungay Stanier), but I own hard cover versions of every book in my “short” list except two. For books I refer to a lot, I like to buy a physical version. It’s easy to add notes, mark pages, and use them as a reference book. I highly suggest abebooks for finding used copies of almost every book made at fair prices.
Until next week…