My Reading List

I love a good read and a good watch! Here's some of my favourite reads and watches

The Virtual Conference Track

Below is my selected conference talks. There's a lot or talks from the Lead Developer Conference and DevOps Days. I also recommend anything by Sandi Metz.

The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

Author: Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford

The book without which the rest of this list would be empty. It’s a good read and I’ve recommended it to a lot of people. Key takeaways:

• It’s very easy for someone to become a bottleneck, even when they have good intentions.
• Watch for the different types of work (Business Projects, Operations Projects, Changes, Unplanned Work).
• Consider the whole value stream and optimise for flow and low work in progress.

Honourable Mentions:

• The Unicorn Project is an excellent book but I find the writing a little bit worse.
• The DevOps Handbook is also an excellent book, but a little long to recommend.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

Author: Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Another great book about actually causing improvements. Even more focused on lowering work in progress than The Phoenix Project. Key takeaways:

• There’s a biggest constraint in the system and any improvements you make away from the constraint will not actually cause any benefit.
• Limit your work in progress. There’s no point in keeping people busy if that means they aren’t able to work on what is important.
• You must focus on the system as a whole to make improvements.

Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value

Author: Melissa Perri

A wonderful take on product management. It will speak to you if you feel like you’re often producing features for the sake of it. Key takeaway:

• Measure the outcome of what you do instead of the output of what you do.

There are lots of talks from Melissa Perri about this book if you don’t want to invest the time in the book.

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships

Author: Marshall Rosenberg PhD

I started reading this book when I found myself getting frustrated in meetings. The more I cared the less people listened. This book helped me a lot in work and out. Key takeaways:

• The central idea is the Observation-Feeling-Need-Request cycle, for creating empathy.
• Remove judgements from your observations. Rosenburg points out a lot of judgements that you wouldn’t think about.
• Remove thoughts from your feelings. He points out “I feel that” is really a thought and not a feeling at all.

An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management

Author: Will Larson

An Elegant Puzzle is a great book on engineering management. It covered a load of really great stuff. I would be lying if I tried to summarise it down to three bullet points. Honestly, in looking for some examples of good bits I’ve decided I need to reread it and make thorough notes. Covers topics like interviewing, reorganisations and delegating. I feel like I’ve undersold it.

Another interesting and excellent read (with a lot of crossover) is The Manager’s Path by Camille Fournier.

Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal With Change In Your Work and In Your Life

Author: Dr Spencer Johnson

A short fable about making the most of change. Are you a Sniff, Scurry, Hem or Haw?