Reddit mentions: The best business leadership books
We found 704 Reddit comments discussing the best business leadership books. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 321 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.
1. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (3rd Edition)
- Addison-Wesley Professional
Features:
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Height | 9.1 Inches |
Length | 6.05 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.7495716908 Pounds |
Width | 0.85 Inches |
2. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
- Crown Business
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Specs:
Color | Brown |
Height | 9.52 Inches |
Length | 6.33 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | September 2014 |
Weight | 1 Pounds |
Width | 0.9 Inches |
3. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
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Color | Red |
Height | 1 Inches |
Length | 8.75 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2002 |
Weight | 0.87743980276 Pounds |
Width | 6 Inches |
4. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)Fifth Edition
PMBOK 5th Edition
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Height | 10.8798995 Inches |
Length | 8.3799045 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 3.0489928843605 Pounds |
Width | 1.1999976 Inches |
5. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
- HarperBusiness
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Color | White |
Height | 8 Inches |
Length | 5.31 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 1994 |
Weight | 0.28 Pounds |
Width | 0.36 Inches |
6. The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials)
HarperCollins Publishers
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Height | 8 Inches |
Length | 5.31 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | January 2006 |
Weight | 0.35 Pounds |
Width | 0.47 Inches |
7. Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Benbella Books
Specs:
Color | Black |
Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2012 |
Weight | 0.71870697412 Pounds |
Width | 0.72 Inches |
8. The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback
- Wiley
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Height | 8.999982 Inches |
Length | 1.098423 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | June 2015 |
Weight | 1.1684499886 Pounds |
Width | 1.200785 Inches |
9. Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization
Tribal Leadership Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization
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Height | 0.8 Inches |
Length | 7.9 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | June 2011 |
Weight | 0.4 Pounds |
Width | 5.3 Inches |
10. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (10th Anniversary Edition)
Thomas Nelson Publishers
Specs:
Height | 9.3 Inches |
Length | 6.38 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | September 2007 |
Weight | 1.07806046118 Pounds |
Width | 1.13 Inches |
11. Growing Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People into Extraordinary Performers
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Specs:
Color | White |
Height | 8.38 Inches |
Length | 5.45 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | December 2007 |
Weight | 0.6283174467 Pounds |
Width | 0.79 Inches |
12. Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-Solving Approach
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Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.881849048 Pounds |
Width | 0.75 Inches |
13. High Output Management
- Vintage
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Height | 7.9 Inches |
Length | 5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | August 1995 |
Weight | 0.45 Pounds |
Width | 0.8 Inches |
14. Innovation and Entrepreneurship
HarperBusiness
Specs:
Height | 8 Inches |
Length | 5.31 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | May 2006 |
Weight | 0.5 pounds |
Width | 0.65 Inches |
15. Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach
- 25 gallon glass aquarium with espresso-colored trim
- Includes energy-efficient LED lighting system for stunning day or night lighting
- Comes with convenient water collection bucket ; 95 Litre / 25 US Gal Glass aquarium with cover
- SIMPLETEC technology - a revolutionary one-touch filter cleaning and water change maintenance system
- 30 Inch length 18 Inch height x 12.5 Inch width, If the water over fills the aquarium it will cause leaking.
Features:
Specs:
Color | Grey |
Height | 8.97 Inches |
Length | 6.03 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | June 1983 |
Weight | 0.44974301448 Pounds |
Width | 0.49 Inches |
16. Legacy
- Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) [Paperback] Raymond Buckland (Author) Complete Book of Witchcraft (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) - BRAND NEW from Hibiscus Express
Features:
Specs:
Height | 8.5 Inches |
Length | 5.25 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | December 2013 |
Weight | 0.5070632026 pounds |
Width | 0.75 Inches |
17. The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership
- Packed with ultra-hydrating omega 3, conditioning vitamin e, moisturizing argan oil
- Boosts cell renewal while hydrating
- Keeps lips soft, smooth and supple
- Made in Paris
Features:
Specs:
Height | 8.70077 Inches |
Length | 5.901563 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.6172943336 Pounds |
Width | 0.598424 Inches |
18. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
- Tactical backpack has a professional laptop compartment which can keep your laptop safely during school travel etc as military laptop backpacks for 14", 15",15.6" laptops.
- Military backpack with double-stitched, Heavy duty zippers and utility-style cord pulls, Ventilated mesh padded back & shoulder strap, breathable material that reduces the heat build-up on your back.
- Tactical assault backpack has molle system, Molle webbing throughout for attaching additional tactical pouches or gear as assault backpack,army backpack, bug out bag backpack,military tactical laptop backpack.
- The top flap over the military tactical backpack, it can hold a hoody, jacket, or even skateboard, sleeping pad, sleeping bag or camping tent. Un-clip the top flap and flip it back with X-LOCK to access the main compartments.
- Get everything in this military tactical backpack that can be used as 3 day assault pack,military backpacks,tactical backpacks,army backpack,bug out bag backpack,molle backpack,hunting backpack,school backpack,laptop backpack etc daypack for daily use.
Features:
Specs:
Release date | October 2015 |
19. Thick Face, Black Heart: The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life
- Business Plus
Features:
Specs:
Height | 8 Inches |
Length | 5.25 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | October 1994 |
Weight | 0.69 Pounds |
Width | 1 Inches |
20. Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy
- Perseus-Basic Books
Features:
Specs:
Height | 9.625 Inches |
Length | 6.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | November 2015 |
Weight | 1.2786811196 Pounds |
Width | 1.125 Inches |
🎓 Reddit experts on business leadership books
The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where business leadership books are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
Well this seems like a good opportunity to post a few of the lessons I learned in my 20s.
To my former self:
If you're depressed, here's how to turn it around
Fap less, and never to porn
Gratitude
Wealth
Theories
Girls
Career
Flow
Meditation
*****
Edit:
To answer some requests, here's my list of resources.
Wealth/Metaphysics
This audiobook has the best summary I've found of how wealth works
Lifting
How Procrastination works:
How Business works
What innovation actually is and how to do it:
How economics works:
How to get things done:
Task Management tool:
Spiritual Books
How to be a man:
Audiobooks (most of these can be found on audiobook):
Frame Control (Anytime you feel like you're trying too hard or begging for something, you lost the frame)
This is my favourite book of all. They talk about the new type of conscousness which is really really interesting to me. May not apply to all people.
If anyone find this book interesting I'd love to talk about it:
How the world works:
Hi I'm a graphic designer, UX engineer, and I have worked for a lot with a bunch of different PMs. Some have been great and some treat people really badly. I can share what was most effective for me and the other graphic designers I have worked with.
When it comes to the long hours I would like to ask who is making the estimates for the projects? I really recommend including the designers when you are making your estimates and scoping out the work. This not only will help you get better estimates but it creates buy in from the designers so that they feel more committed to meeting those estimates. I have seen PMs throw work over the wall to people to complete in unrealistic time frames or unrealistic prices. The person doing the estimate didnt know rendering an animation would take 4 days and 100% use of someone's computer etc. All parties end up blaming each other for not having the right talents and in the end its just the project that is put at risk.
As far them asking other resources to be involved. Somewhere they got the notion they could do that, they feel they have no choice, or they are doing some skill swapping and team building between departments. I really recommend looking into why this is happening before bringing down the hammer on anyone, a lot of times there is some other resource issue occurring that needs to be resolved. If you can approach it as a way to help solve their underlying problem people are more likely to be open to change.
Liability:
Reference:
This may seem lame but I totally recommend reading the PMBOK for reference. Don't feel like you have to take the test but I think it covers a lot of the responsibilities of PMs well. PMBOK
Sorry if this is very pro designer but I have seen way way too many PMs just pretend we aren't people. If you can gain peoples respect you have have an awesome job. Hope this helps. Good luck.
I'm a technical PM for two teams, as a well a contributing dev on both teams.
While the skills are definitely different from programming a few things I've found that helps:
A few books you should read:
In terms of sprint plannings, just remember it's a negotiation. You're not there to tell people what to do. Rather you have the stuff you would like done, but you negotiate with the team on what's possible and what's not. I've seen too many PM's get pissed cause their teams couldn't do 100% of what they wanted and that's not right. Rather a good PM, imo, brings options and lets the team decide how much they can handle. There have been times when I've gone into sprint plannings and non of items made it on the sprint, and that's ok.
Sorry for the long rant!
I know this will sound like something you may have tried, but I'd consider taking
Taking friendship beyond social activities? It's hard. It's really hard - and it only gets harder as you get older.
But it's massively possible - and you should try, because it's important.
Since you're highly educated (compared to some), perhaps consider reading up on this area. It's not as crazy as it might sound - psychology and social situations (as much as they're really hard to understand) are pretty well documented, and with some thought and effort, you can massively improve various bits of social skills (it may be hard to introspect and work out what to improve, but perhaps just say "everything" and keep working at it?)
It's not really exactly what you want, but I do recommend reading this book because whilst it may sound irrelevant (and lame?) it's really awesome at helping you understand things like this.
I think I'd suggest that your perception of the problem as 'integration' with the racially English people as just... well, a perception.
My suggestion might be to get involved in some new activities - set yourself some challenges - to do things you've never done before - perhaps try 8 new things in a month? Different activities (ever joined a caving club, taken a cookery class, or learnt to dance salsa, been to yoga?) of course - you probably know this bit really well.
Next try and work out how you can improve the lives of those 'activity partners' - how you can make them happier. Can you offer to teach their children a skill (teach them to code/soldier/codeclub?)? Can you introduce them to some other people they might share interests with? Can you introduce them to another activity that is also fun?
Actually, I said that book might not be relevant - it definitely is. Go read it. :)
Also, if you're ever in sunny (lol!) Manchester feel free to PM me! :D
Books on project management, software development lifecycle, history of computing/programming, and other books on management/theory. It's hard to read about actual programming if you can't practice it.
Some of my favorites:
You can't exactly learn to program without doing, but hopefully these books will give you good ideas on the theories and management to give you the best understanding when you get out. They should give you an approach many here don't have to realize that programming is just a tool to get to the end, and you can really know before you even touch any code how to best organize things.
IF you have access to a computer and the internet, look into taking courses on Udacity, Coursera, and EDX. Don't go to or pay for any for-profit technical school no matter how enticing their marketing may tell you you'll be a CEO out of their program.
Funny story: I've only been around since Mag5, and Nick started at Mag4.
Magfest #1 was started by a guy named Joe Yamine. It was SUPPOSED to be an anime con named (definitely butchering the spelling) OMAKEACON, but they happenned to book the Minibosses, and the rest is history.
After Mag1, Joe (smartly) had enough and was prepared to call it done. Brendan Becker, who was an attendee, grabbed a chunk of money and Eli Courtwright, and would not let it die. Magfest 2 through approximately 9 were run by Brendan, Eli is still with us to this day.
I attended Magfest 5 after (bizzarely) submitting a patch to the linux kernel (in xpad.c) that fixed Dance Dance REvolution controllers, and telling authors of DDR clones that it was fixed. One of these people was Brendan and that's how I found out about Magfest.
At Mag5 I put out my keyboard in the hallway and left it there, finding people jamming out on it in my absence. At Mag6, Paul Good, who was also running stuff, threw a room at me which we called Jamspace. At Mag7 I was thrown headfirst into music, by Mag9 I had taken on other duties, and at Mag10 when Brendan had to step back, I ended up being the current Sucker In Charge Of Things, which I still do to this day.
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My best advice for starting up new organizations is, PRACTICE. Use anything as an excuse to practice, build your crew. There are forgiving venues like colleges/etc that will give you money to run cool stuff for their students, or bars that would be willing to let you rent the place on an otherwise dead night.
Start small and do it really well. Don't run any bad events, make sure all your attendees and staff walk away thinking it was the best thing ever. Learn lessons incrementally, and then when you have a good grip on the flow and basics, move onto getting crazier. If you ever want to do something in a venue, always start with a hotel (which you can negotiate with, trading hotel room sales for meeting space), and NEVER START IN A CONVENTION CENTER (they are so expensive and out to screw you, especially if you're small).
Starting a non-profit is pretty involved (our process took nearly 2 years, though we're more complicated than most), if you can, maybe try and get involved with an existing one, or look into something called fiscal sponsorship. My advice for starters is to ignore that stuff for now, and just focus on doing some good events. The first few will probably only barely break even, so you don't need to worry about being exempt from taxes or whatever. Just make sure money in > money out, if only by $1.
Find allies. Let them do cool stuff with you and get out of their way.
I like this book here, been re-reading it lately, it maps pretty well to the Magfest organization: http://www.amazon.com/Tribal-Leadership-Leveraging-Thriving-Organization/dp/0061251321 might help you in your travels.
Good luck! The most important thing is persistence, just keep doing it and building that momentum, there's no shortcut.
What do you want to do with coaching, long-term? That answer will have some effect on your next steps as far as what you're willing to do to get it.
As others have said, learning from people in informal settings. The formal coaching education path is a lot more forged than it used to be, but the majority of learning as a coach happens through informal means. Formal coaching education is stuff like USL clinics, conferences, etc. Informal education is all the rest of it--talking to people, shadowing other coaches' practices, etc. These are only going to happen if you want them to and are somewhat aggressive about pursuing them.
I'm similar to you. Played MCLA, in my fourth year of HS coaching, USL-2, and not in a hotbed area. A lot of my learning is online, stuff like Duke's coaching clinics are available and useful in that regard.
http://www.goduke.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=2027&SPSID=654167
There are also Facebook groups for coaches as well as lacrosse coaches. Check out Coaching Mastery Group as a decent example.
I listen to a lot of podcasts, both specific to lacrosse and about coaching more broadly. Winning Youth Coaching is a great podcast about sports coaching overall with some lacrosse specific coaches on there too, including the host. http://winningyouthcoaching.com/
I'm attending the University of Denver's online MA in sport coaching program. It's awesome, but definitely only a move if you're serious about coaching as more of a career interest due to the tuition tag.
I made /r/coachingarticles as a sort of bookmark folder for me to link dump stuff that I've found useful, from my grad program and otherwise.
I also read a lot. Petro's Lacrosse Book is a good one: https://www.amazon.com/Lacrosse-Technique-Tradition-Second-Classic/dp/0801884101
Oh, LaxPlayBook.com has a free youtube channel that is a good resource too. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOeQMADCPxLvt3bMc92iAA
Ultimately though, now that you're past the basics/x's and o's stage, it's going to come down to a lot of individual player management, team culture, team leadership, etc. more than it is new schemes and plays. That means you've got sport psych and stuff to read too, and there are tons of books out there about building team culture, etc. Legacy by James Kerr is an excellent one.
I recently read the (old) book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, and it provides an interesting lens in which to view this landscape.
First of all, there is a lot of emphasis on being first in a market. Soylent is obviously the perfect example of this. They were first, and in many ways this is more valuable in a business sense than other measures of product quality. Soylent, you could say, has become the "Kleenex" of powdered foods - its name is synonymous with the category. Really, it has done what all new businesses would love to do - invent its own category in which to be first, a category with enormous growth potential and no competition. Soylent is the first powdered food, not the newest alternative to Ensure.
Many would-be competitors have sprung up, attempting to be Soylent, with little differentiating them other than availability outside the US (or even availability inside the US, for that matter!). However, one in particular has distinguished itself as a worthy competitor, in a business sense: Joylent.
Instead of trying to copy Soylent exactly, Joylent does an excellent job of positioning itself as "just like Soylent, but opposite" - with flavors in response to Soylent's monolithic blandness, with irreverence and humor in response to Soylent's sterile, clinical seriousness, but with, at the core, a product that is almost indistinguishable in how it is intended to be used and what it means to provide. This is an excellent strategy for reaching a sustainable second place in response to an overwhelming number one - it is Pepsi's response to the dominance of Coca-Cola, for example. And number two in a growing market with unlimited potential is not a bad place to be. Especially if number one happens to stumble somewhere along the way.
For the rest, and I would argue that means everyone other than Soylent or Joylent, the strategy that remains is for each to grab a unique point of differentiation, each with its own niche that it can be identified and known for. To chase after Soylent and Joylent at this point would be foolish. Instead, we can choose one word or concept to own and excel in. For example, who will own the word ketosis? I would argue that a clear winner has not yet emerged here. Or weight-loss? Or even taste or flavor? (Or, dare I say it, cheap?)
Or for an obvious example, it seems that my own Custom Body Fuel owns the word custom within this reddit community, but to be honest I'm not convinced that it is as valuable a word to own at this point as it may seem from the outside. The subset of people who really need customization is a very small subset of an already small niche market, and the operational infrastructure needed to address this niche at scale is still beyond my grasp.
The holy grail, of course, would be to create yet another new category within and yet beyond "powdered foods" in some sense, in which to be the first and best, like Soylent. I don't know yet what that may be (it may be many things) or whether anyone here will come upon it, but it's worth thinking about.
These books are more theoretical and about self growth as a well-rounded designer, if you want game theory others listed some great ones like Rules of Play and Book of Lenses. That said, here's my list:
It's more of a broad game design book since it talks about all the pipelines / processes of all departments coming together, with an emphasis on scripting / level design for crafting experiences. Portion of the book uses Unreal Engine 2 as a reference, but you can probably use UE4 or something else to follow along the actual game design lessons he's teaching and not have the take away be a technical tutorial.
I cannot describe how invaluable this book is, if you're only to get one from the list it'd be this one. While it does covers Pixar's history as a frame of reference for a lot of stuff, it's also more importantly about their ideology for fostering creativity, productivity and work/ life balance -- all of which are important and can be applied to Game Design.
I read this one after Gabe Newell recommended it one of his interviews and it was at a time in my career when I was working at a AAA studio struggling with the corporate forces that got in the way of creativity / productivity. It was one of those that changed me as a developer. It's more from a management point of view, but seriously applicable if you are collaborating with other people in game development, either on the same level as you or those who rely on your work to do theirs. Or if you are going to work at studio, AAA or indie, it's also an insightful book to evaluate whether the culture cultivated by management is in your best interest so that you have the tools to do your best work without burning out.
This one is like Peopleware but not as exhaustive, it's an easier read since it's a compilation and edit of blog posts the authors wrote on their old website 37signals. It's more or less about getting stuff done and filtering out noise, simplifying things to make results better -- this one is relatable for planning game project milestones. A lot of it will sound like common sense that a lot of people may say they already know, but it's surprising how many don't actually practice it.
To become a better person takes intentionality, meaning you have to make a decision to make a change every time something new and unwholesome presents itself to you regarding yourself. The Bible is certainly a plumb line on major things to do to become a better person, but it's also full of pictures of individuals who showed the way for being amazing people.
I've found that the more I study leadership, psychology, emotional intelligence, etc., the more I see a blue print for it in the Bible, in particular, demonstrated by Christ himself.
If you want to be the best version of yourself, study servant-based leadership. Jesus was a servant leader. The apostles learned from Jesus how to be servant leaders. Servant leadership is the mortal granularity that made the gospel so transformative and helped it spread like a wildfire. If you are essentially having to "sell" a new religious belief system in the 1st century, you've got to be able to believe the salesman as well as the integrity of the product, right? The product is salvation and the sales pitch is a new way of walking in freedom and living a wholesome, abundant life. Christ's leadership model did just that.
If you want some good reads on leadership, check these out, and then read the new testament chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Keep in mind, you don't need a title or position to be a leader -- that's what servant leadership is all about.
"Spiritual Leadership" by J. Oswald Sanders: Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence For Every Believer (Sanders Spiritual Growth Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802416705/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_u.ZhDbPEN8952
"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060652926/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Ma0hDbTCSG70T
More leadership for business and for life:
"The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (10th Anniversary Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785288376/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cc0hDbRCMAGMZ
"The 5 Levels of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell: The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential https://www.amazon.com/dp/1599953633/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6c0hDbK4RV56Y
Just be careful, it's easy to fall down the rabbit hole of 'thinking you're being productive' but working ON things instead of "In" things. (Meta-procrastination is reading a book about getting organized instead of getting organized.) You should strive to have the simplest, most boring system that actually works for you. It's very easy to get caught up in the trap of researching the latest and greatest fad rather than actually doing the hard tasks that need to be done.
The 'classic' is "How to take control of your time and your life" by Lakein. This is the most generic, 1970s version of time management possible, but is helpful to understand as it is kind of 'responded to' by multiple other authors, even if they don't call him out by name.
Another frequently referenced work is "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Covey. This gets mentioned in a lot of places. It is a 'top down' style.
For a completely different perspective, try "Getting Things Done" by Allen. This will lead you to realize how many commitments that you have made. It is more 'bottom up'.
Finally, some of the most interesting stuff in this space that I have read is by Mark Forster. His latest book is here. And his blog is here.
At a high level, it is always useful to think about the utility of what you are doing - that is, making sure you are doing the right things, even if you are doing them slowly (working on your most important tasks), rather than doing low value tasks efficiently (man, I can read email quickly). Peter Drucker, Tim Ferriss (Four Hour Workweek), etc.
Other ideas/Books to research: JIT/Kanban, 80/20 'rule', "Eat that frog" by Brian Tracy. Smarter Faster Better by Duhigg, The Power of Habit also by Duhigg I also very much enjoyed. The Magic of Tidying up by Kondo might also give you some insight into cleaning out your commitments.
Hope this helps. I have read all of these so let me know if you have questions I guess...
>Is there any must know scrum master tips that a newbie should know.
Scrum's primary job is to highlight where your problems are. if things are painful, figure out how to fix them WITHIN the scrum framework. it's trying to teach you and your team things about workflow, process, etc. the things you encounter that make things harder within the framework need to be fixed within the framework.
Your job as a Scrum Master is somewhat fluid. you're part project manager, part process engineer, and part team manager. If work isn't moving, grease the wheels and help it move. if stuff is moving to fast, help people hit the brakes.
> Is there anything about agile you wish you knew when you started with it?
Start practicing Systems level thinking. your team is not in a vacuum. everything they do effects someone else. make sure you aren't making things harder for someone else.
I wish I had started reading sooner. if you don't have a lot of time to read: Audio books. use your commute to improve your skills.
Absorb as much information as you can. Scrum is not a silver bullet. it also doesn't do work for you. it only highlights where you need to focus. the rest is on you, so read and study. Scrum and Agile are about fostering a habit of continuous and relentless improvement. you should put this to practice on yourself as well. it's the one thing I wish I had started sooner.
If your company allows it, attend the local agile conferences. these are GREAT for newbies. they cover a lot of good information. one thing you want to do is start collecting stories about different implementations. there are hundreds of successful ones and the one that works best for your team will likely be a combination of those. the more stories you have to draw from, the greater your options for success. start collecting.
Recommended reading:
Phoenix Project: https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-Business/dp/0988262509
Crucial Conversations: https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-Second/dp/0071771328/
Lean from the Trenches: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Trenches-Managing-Large-Scale-Projects/dp/1934356859/
The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Way-Lean-Leadership-Development/dp/0071780785/
When you're ready for something more advanced:
Tribal Leadership: https://www.amazon.com/Tribal-Leadership-Leveraging-Thriving-Organization/dp/0061251321/
Toyota Production System: https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Production-System-Beyond-Large-Scale/dp/0915299143/
Lean Software Development: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Software-Development-Agile-Toolkit/dp/0321150783/
Note: This last book is 'advanced' mostly because of price. It's worth it.
Poppendieck's bookshelf is also a good place to start. I'd set a goal to try to read every book on this list in the next 2 or 3 years. most of the books i've listed are also on their bookshelf.
http://www.poppendieck.com/reference.htm
Disclaimer : i'm not a recruiter, so my opinion is just that :)
Here are my reactions while reading your resume :
If you want to shine, that's a thing, but don't crap on others.
"Without direction", "the architects didn't know how to do that but i
did", "1980 Fortran era" etc.
I would rephrase those with only positive things. You did good things, that's all there is.
I see that you made a presentation for all of your team, that's cool. And you helped recruit, also cool. That should be more emphasized, and you need to show more of that.
Now that the project is defunct, you should put your sources on github and add the link in your resume.
You listed C# as a language you own, and yet you put it in the "i want to learn these" section as well.
BTW i like this section, it's a good idea. Add a link to a github account with your fiddlings in these languages / frameworks and that's a winner.
https://amzn.to/2Ku6Xbi - The Ideal Team Player
https://amzn.to/31zGqPs - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
https://amzn.to/2Ku8UEE - Extreme Ownership
https://amzn.to/2YXLkE3 - Dichotomy of Leadership
I'm 31 and just started my own company. When I turned 16, I had a profound epiphany about what I wanted to do "when I grew up". That epiphany was I wanted to own my own business. The why, came from the experiences I had since I was 14.
I worked as a delivery guy for two guys who owned a bounce house company. At 15, I was employee 1 at an advertising company. I started in the mailroom stuffing envelopes and I continued to work for that company through college and even a few months after graduating college. I didn't stay in the mailroom though. As I taught myself programming and a little design, I was growing within the company, as they themselves grew in revenue and size. I was getting a front row seat to what it was like to be an entrepreneur and I loved every minute of it; the long hours, the struggles, the doing whatever it takes, carving your own path, etc.
Even though I knew being an entrepreneur was part of my path in life, it has taken me 16 yrs to make that a reality. I have no regrets as I've been able to gain knowledge and experience the entire time. Everything you experience in life can help you in some way on your path to becoming an entrepreneur.
Remember, you can do a lot of good by being an employee too. You have not failed if you don't start a company.
Suggested Reading
Articles from reputable sources are a decent source of knowledge, but some quality business books will get you an infinitely better understanding of concepts. Here is my personal business book list if you want to get a "universal generalist" understanding of business:
I am graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce Honors degree in May and I can easily say that one of these books (average price ~25$) has significantly more content than most individual classes I have taken (~600$). However, keep in mind that business knowledge and business acumen are two entirely different things. Knowledge is easily obtainable through books like these, and acumen is the result of applied experience with decision making. In short, it is one thing to be book smart, but it is another to get out there and actually apply it. No one can give you that in the form of an article or book - you have to do that yourself.
edit: added links to amazon
Please understand, all three are generally speaking fairly senior roles.
A Project Manager (obviously) manages projects.
Most PMs have a background in business or a technology area that they were good at, but discovered and got really good at managing projects.
An IT PM needs to know a little bit about damned near all technology areas - just enough to know when they need to bring in another resource.
An IT PM needs to know when they are being lied to. The business sets due-dates, and the PM needs to organize resources to meet those dates. Some resources don't want to give accurate or realistic estimates on how long their components will take, which has a snowball effect on project components that depend on that component...
Above all else, a PM must have excellent communication & organizational skills.
Formal Project Management is practically a religion, and this is their holy text: PMBOK
More info here: http://www.pmi.org/certifications/types/project-management-pmp
-----
A Technical Consultant is a specialist with significant experience & expertise in a given technology area. They know how a particular widget works, and how most businesses tend to use and integrate said widget into an organization. The deeper the history of knowledge and longer the track record of successful projects, the more a consultant tends to be paid.
A consultant will usually be brought in as a resource to be managed by a Project Manager.
The consultant has answers to questions and design or implementation recommendations that will be used by the incumbant technology teams to integrate the widget into their company.
Sometimes a company will engage a consultant and pay them to do everything. You are the expert - just make the widget work, and tell us when you are done. This is a clear indication of a terrible company, with piss-poor management. How will you keep the widget working if you don't know how it works, or how it was implemented in the first place?
-----
A Solution Architect is a Technical Consultant who has expertise in not just a specific widget, but the entire technology area and/or business operation that will use the widget. They can design or modify your business or technology department or infrastructure to best use a new widget.
These are among the most senior of technologists.
-----
Question for you:
What happened for you when you went to Google and searched for "wiki project manager" or "wiki technical consultant" or "wiki solution architect" ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_manager
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_consulting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_architect
The reason I ask the question is that nearly all IT staff members are paid to solve problems of one sort or another.
Learning something new is just another problem to solve.
If you hope to succeed and excel in this career, you really need to improve your ability to answer questions of this level on your own.
You're neglecting it for some reason, but these look a lot like self improvement ideas plus chores, which I know I don't like to process. They require taking action about yourself, which can be hard.
Peter Drucker has a great point about effective decisions - they must include an action, or they are not decisions at all.
Also at 7 things a day, with 100 things until you clear it out - that means you only clear out your inbox every 2 weeks, which sounds like you're not doing the weekly review!
Here are some tips I can give you, based on your example inbox items:
The GTD podcast has a guided weekly review which can be helpful if you're struggling to do them as well.
Having been through something like this, I can share my perspective on what makes the difference. Apologies if the second person imperative tense is a bit too much, but it feels right.
Since you don't really have any direct control over what other people think, thinking and ruminating about it becomes a hobby that doesn't actually provide any reward or positive value. Recognize that thinking about how identity groups behave isn't particularly helpful or productive at any level whatsoever, and explore other pursuits! Essentially, try to "change the subject" of what's occupying your mindspace and time by deliberate choice.
So, focus on building, creating, exploring, achieving, helping, contributing, imagining. Find good-hearted and interesting people and befriend them. Pursue hobbies, read, self-educate, go on a hike, join a running club, find people who want to learn to play piano with you. Decide on and pursue a career, think strategically, try to figure out how to have your ducks in a row.
I'm mainly talking about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is really the only technique that has demonstrated consistent results. One doesn't even need a therapist to use it; just keep track of what you're thinking about hour to hour, and every time you're drifting into rumination about wasted time, pinch yourself and think about your plans for your future.
I know it's not always easy to do. Some apps might help. But we're neuroplastic and malleable creatures, and we get better at what we practice. So the main goal is to start practicing other things -- be deliberate about "changing the subject" you're devoting mental energy to.
Hope this helps!
Awesome!!! I'd love to meet Tony personally one day too. He's a big deal and really humble for what I've seen/read. Congratulations again for being part of such a great company! Thank you very much for taking the time to read and reply my questions!
About question 2, I was referring to this book. It's in Zappos' library, so you can borrow it anytime. I HIGHLY recommend it.
Basically, someone in Stage 3 thinks "I'm great, you suck", and someone in Stage 4 thinks "We're great, they (the competitors) suck". Someone in stage 3 is cocky, smart-ass and treats everyone else as if they were inferior to him. They also don't see the importance in Core Value #10 :). Is there anyone in Zappos you've seen behaving this way?
Have a great life! :D
Hi skunk,
Since everyone is remaining quiet I might as well give this a shot. I'm from a technical background but currently studying PM in my spare time in the hope that I can progress in this direction within my industry.
PMP
It seems like the global standard is the PMP with PMI which requires:
> A secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree, or the global equivalent) with at least five years of project management experience, with 7,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.
> OR
> A four-year degree (bachelor’s degree or the global equivalent) and at least three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.
I'm currently studying towards this. I've taken recommendations from this subreddit (and /r/pmp) and bought:
and
In order to obtain the required 35 contact hours, I bought one of several cheap Groupons for $99. I'm not going to link the course because I don't necessarily recommend it - it should be easy enough to find and people have linked to these in previous posts. It doesn't really matter anyway because it's just so I can "tick that box", as I've learnt everything I need to know from the books.
The exam however will have to be sat in person. I have yet to do this so can't give you any pointers.
CAPM
If you don't match the above criteria, you can always opt for the lower qualification of CAPM (also with PMI) and work your way up.
For this I reccommend CAPM/PMP Project Management Certification, Third Edition and the previously mentioned online course.
Please note that you can potentially pitch anything as a project in the right light, even washing the dishes. Aim high and try to get the hours for PMP if possible.
PRINCE2 & SIX SIGMA
What else? Well, if I'm successful with the PMP and still enjoy PM after the blood, sweat and tears, I'm looking at these two qualifications.
I've already added a few books to my Amazon wishlist but have yet to seriously look into these with enough detail to commit.
I know that the exam for the PRINCE2 foundation level (and possibly practitioner level?) can be sat online with a webcam.
Six Sigma I know very little about except that several colleagues have mentioned it and my industry takes it seriously. However, I don't believe you can do these Six Sigma "belts" online.
Sorry for the serious wall of text but I just thought I'd share everything I know about PM accreditation. This isn't a comprehensive list but I'm planning on doing 90% online so I'm in a similar situation to yourself.
I would be grateful for any feedback myself from experienced PMs on my plans going forward.
And I have these in my list on amazon. Would love to get some opinions on them:
 
How to Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
 
Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More
by Robert Bly
 
Words that Sell
by Richard Bayan
 
Tested Advertising Methods
by Caples and Hahn
 
Writing That Works
by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson
 
Confessions of an Advertising Man
by David Ogilvy
 
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
by Al Ries and Jack Trout
 
The Robert Collier Letter Book
by Robert Collier
 
Nicely Said: Writing for the Web with Style and Purpose
by Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee
 
Letting Go of the Words
by Janice (Ginny) Redish
 
Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers
by Harold Evans
 
Can I Change Your Mind?: The Craft and Art of Persuasive Writing
by Lindsay Camp
 
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
by Roy Peter Clark
 
Read Me: 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy
by Roger Horberry and Gyles Lingwood
 
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads
by Luke Sullivan
 
WRITE IN STEPS: The super simple book writing method
by Ian Stables
 
On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
 
The Wealthy Freelancer
by Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage and Ed Gandia
 
Write Everything Right!
by Denny Hatch
 
The Secret of Selling Anything
by Harry Browne
 
The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time
by Chris Murray
 
On Writing
by Stephen King
 
Writing for the Web
by Lynda Felder
 
Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
by Ann Handley
 
This book will teach you how to write better
by Neville Medhora
This is a great resource: https://www.oneweekpm.com. This course is a great place to start.
Hitchhiker's Guide to Product Management ( great blog ):
Books to read after the course: https://yilunzh.com/pm/
INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love: https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRED-Create-Tech-Products-Customers-ebook/dp/B077NRB36N
The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Product-Playbook-Innovate-Products/dp/1118960874
Shipping Greatness: Practical lessons on building and launching outstanding software, learned on the job at Google and Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Shipping-Greatness-Practical-launching-outstanding/dp/1449336574
Hope this guides help.
Many people mistakenly think that just because they're good at social media that they will be good at social media marketing. It's an entirely different beast.
Do you have any experience in branding or marketing basics? You need to be able to create strategic briefs, messaging guides, create and effectively track goals that will solve your client's pain points.
Recommended books:
Ogilvy on Advertising
22 Immutable Laws of Branding
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
After that I would learn more about content marketing. How to create good, compelling stories that not only engages the brand's followers but stores that legitimately helps them as well.
Blogs to subscribe to:
Content Marketing Institute
Hubspot
*CMI also had a podcast called PNR that is a great way to keep up on latest news, trends and predictions. I recommend subscribing to it.
Speaking of blogs, consider including them as part of your content strategy. They make easy fodder for social posts and drive traffic to the client website.
A few final things to note:
That's about all I got for now. Lemme know if you have any questions.
Well, it's not a complete guide of "how to be a good manager" but this is the canonical (I believe) book about Scrum, which is a specific implementation of the vague mess known as "agile."
https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X
It's pretty short, 256 pages. I think that after the first few chapters you'd have a pretty good sense of whether or not you think it's interesting or if you think it's bullshit.
If you want to know how to be a good manager, I'd suggest this book. It's not about management but it's pretty good primer on how to work with people.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034
If I could pick two books for all my managers to read and really take to heart, it would be those two.
Some additional information can help a lot in recommendations. I'd like to know the following:
What is your team size?
Is your team co-located (all in one place)?
Can you describe the type and flow of your work?
Do you have open channels of communication with your customer, and if not, do you have people who can stand in and more or less speak for the customer?
Do you think the leadership would be on board for a drastic change?
It is unlikely that the visibility and continuous improvement of an agile framework will not bring about significant improvements within your company. Also, if you are the type that thrives on facilitating a team and helping them grow to excellence, then this will be a great career change. Personally, I love my job and enjoy every day. With the above simple questions answered, it would be a lot easier to spark a conversation.
Jeff Southerland's book (already mentioned) is a great intro for Scrum, and not a boring read. I also like David Anderson's Kanban, if you have a more steady continuous workflow like a compliance or support team, this can fit better. Also, a good read. The Scrum Guide is rather short and is the definitive guide for the Scrum framework. Exactly how you execute under that framework is largely up to the team, but everything is based on the idea of iterative continuous improvement. Once you get this idea down in practice, you'll be hooked.
I strongly recommend High output management by Andy Grove. Theres a reason it's called the Silicon Valley bible and so many tech leaders swear by it. I've read a lot of leadership books on managing people and this is the one I still keep coming back to.
Theres a lot of good stuff from Peter Drucker (pretty much the first guy to write on management as a discipline) that is timeless. Ironically he was good friends with Andy Grove and you can see some concepts borrowed from Drucker in High output management. The effective executive is probably his best work but Essential Drucker is a good compilation of a lot his stuff.
Eliyahu Goldratts Theory of constraints is really good as well as some of hi ls other stuff. He was accused of just copying old concepts from management science that was 40 years old. Thats probably true, but his books are still fantastic
Aside from being a team of high performing players, they are a great team in the way they operate. For example, Richie McCaw (arguably one of the greatest Rugby players of all time) started a tradition where the senior leadership of the team clean up the changing sheds after each game. On flights they will often let others go first and spend time helping people.
A lot of this was all developed as the leadership at NZ Rugby spent years researching top performing sports teams, including extensive sessions with the San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots, Manchester City FC among others. The impact of this learning resulted in Roy Keane (former Manchester United captain) spending time with the All Blacks as part of earning his UEFA Pro License (for coaching)
A great read of how they operate is Legacy by Michael Kerr. Whilst there are things that all professional sports have unique, the thing that needs to be considered is that the All Blacks are similar to the Hockey Canada and their mens team - where they can pick the best players from NZ to play.
Here's my list of the classics:
General Computing
Computer Science
Software Development
Case Studies
Employment
Language-Specific
C
Python
C#
C++
Java
Linux Shell Scripts
Web Development
Ruby and Rails
Assembly
You both would hate most of the content in The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership, but Grey would enjoy the author's methodology of news intake --
Two books may change that outlook:
Growing great people: http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Great-Employees-Extraordinary-Performers/dp/1591841909
Good to great: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406870853&sr=1-1&keywords=good+to+great
These books will show you that really successful companies never treat their employees as cogs or slaves. The really great companies treat mgmt as a coaching responsibility and most people at these kinds of companies love their employers.
As a manager, your primary responsibilities are retention and recruiting, removing obstacles, and assisting people with their careers. All of that starts with listening.
I'll say my books aren't expressly feminine. They're more about dynamics, relationships, motivations, which have helped to prevent me from going wild with aggressive masculine approaches despite my surroundings and peers. Thank goodness I found these so early :)
I loved Captivating, which is about women from a Christian perspective and it's counterpart called Wild at Heart, which is about men. Neither of them were too overwhelmingly Christian, IMO.
Another book with Christian influences, The Servant is a book about leadership theory that's been very helpful to me stepping into a more nurturing and deferring approach.
Five Dysfunctions of a Team is my very favorite book ever, and it discusses the reasons teams (be it a couple, sports team, friend group, or work group) fail and how to prevent that. Very helpful in learning why vulnerability, an important feminine trait, is so important.
> at some point the follower has to respect the leader
No, they first must decide if they want to be a follower, then they follow someone that can lead them.
> I know leadership I was an infantry company commander
No, you know some leadership. You're used to Command Authority; Soldiers performed for you because they were obligated to or their lives quickly went to hell with little repercussion for you if any (Think article 15, UCMJ, etc.). You don't have that type of Power in a marriage, yet.
> In contrast the two orbiters (can guys have orbiters?) just eat up the directness and authority
I think you're mixing up Authority with something else...Frame. From FM 7-21.13:
The women at the gym are reacting to your frame.
One last reference, this time from AR 600-100:
This is easy to translate into family terms. Are you providing, operating, and improving the family?
There are many similarities between small military units and families. You can't just fire a troop and you have to work with them regardless of their willingness, and skill. The same goes for a wife, and especially kids. Firing a wife takes about the same amount of paperwork as firing a troop but affects you significantly more. You have more tools at your disposal to 'motivate' a troop than you do to motivate your wife, however there is a lot of crossover on what can work, beginning with true ground level Leadership.
If you haven't yet, I suggest reading Small Unit Leadership. Short book, easy read, maybe a few hours. It might help bridge the gap and put some extra tools in your toolbox.
Edit: Instead of thinking like a Company Commander, shift to thinking like Team Leader dealing with an unruly Soldier.
Depends what you want to learn. Some of my favorites are
This a good list to get you started :) most of my favorite books are not language specific.
Thanks for the resource – bookmarked! I'm currently reading Sutherland's book, it's surprisingly really well written. https://smile.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X?sa-no-redirect=1
Our dev team thinks they work in agile, but they're definitely 'scrum but'. Also it's a sensitive political situation for me. The times I've even remotely showed interest in integrating our teams or getting involved, I've been reprimanded. So unfortunately I don't think my current situation is going to provide much in the way of opportunity to learn hands-on. I'm going to continue to see if I can find a creative solution outside of the dev side, but I'm more resigned to making the change wholesale with a new place. Also, I did sign up for the 2-day training in a few weeks, so I am committed, and hopefully soon, certified.
Curious - what kind of stormy waters have you experienced?
Your age will only be a challenge if you think it is. I had a team leader/supervisor who was 25 when we were put together in our reorganized department. Some older people may have prejudice about your age; though you can get past it by building a relationship with them in the professional sense, relying on them for their talent and expertise. Basically don't be an asshole and be a bulldozer; do listen and communicate effectively. Your family, I agree with as to taking some courses if you can.
There are a great many list of resources, many online for free. One Youtube channel I think is great is Front Line Leadership. A good Youtube channel for communication is Effective Communication Skills With Dan O'Connor, and a great book which is available on audio is "Extreme Ownership" and suggest the audiobook which is about 7 hours long and written by two former Navy SeALS who were assigned in Rhamadi and provide their real life experiences in the military and then translate into business leadership/management.
Jocko, one of the co-authors also has a podcast and there is /r/JockoPodcast and other subreddits related to his podcasts on Youtube. The video he has titled "Good"....yea, it's my go to when I feel like shit is raining on me.
There are many books on how to be a good leader, and not that many on how to go from a good to a great leader. I know 4 really good books in the latter category:
Say no more, fam.
You don't need a degree to run a business. Having your own business allows you to experiment with these books first hand instead of taking some professor's word for it. Professor's usually just read what the book says. If they were actually good at running a business they'd probably be doing that.
As somebody who likes playing devil's advocate, and doesn't have all the context:
There's a popular management self-help book called Tribal Leadership. Maybe that's what the "tribal meetings" comment was about? Douchey consultants love that kind of language.
The asian guy in the jungle with a loincloth and big knives seems like a weird stereotype to make with asians. You'd think they'd mention how he was great at math or something. You sure he's not a prepper, survivalist, or other similar outdoor enthusiast? I'm a white dude and my coworkers make those same comments about me.
Not all of these are in our core training/ required knowledge, or related to our day to day functions as a university A/V department, but They are all available to my team for knowledge building and professional development. Additionally , and our job ladder includes Infocomm certifications, so the library is a little biased towards infocomm resources at the moment.
Books I use are
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Handbook-Acoustics-Alton-Everest/dp/0071603328)
just ordered digital video and hd
based on a recommendation in r/videoengineering
infocomm's audio and visual systems design, essentials of the av industry, av best practices, AV installation hand book
white papers/ online training from extron, JBL, Dalite, surgeX, bluejeanscable, and others. (out of the office and do not have the exact list and links with me
Here is why open office plans became a thing: Money. Employee space is rated on certain amount of sq/ft per employee. If I rent a 1,000 sq/ft office space for open office plans each employee only gets about 30 sq/ft. With cubicles that jumps up to 50-60sq/ft an employee. Offices are about 110 sq/ft.
Looking purely at the cost which route do you think a company is going to go?
This is actually a good book on how people work and offices should be organized: Peopleware
> What does you ideal office space look like?
An office with a door. Doesn't need to be a big one but I need to be able to shut the door when I am on meetings or working on things.
> Do you have an idea of a better layout?
You will pick up the knowledge fairly quickly, but the wisdom part comes slowly.
Read some books:
Start humble, stay humble, be quick to listen and slow to speak, and don't make changes on Friday!
I would say the BEST book is this one, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Fifth Edition.
The reason why, is the PMP/CAMP/Project+ are all based on this book. So not only will it get you Project+, but it will also prepare you for the other two certs from PMI. It's not short, I mean it's 600 pages, but it really is the best for these certs.
Otherwise, I think the Sybex book is your best bet. It's half the size and will only focus on the topics covered in Project+
Gotcha. That really sucks, and I mean that in the most meaningful way possible haha.
That type of thinking is the complete opposite of "agile" development, where typically there is a budget, but product owners and devs work together, iteration-by-iteration to determine what needs to change. If an "estimate" is carved in stone, then it's not an estimate anymore, but a fixed-bid project--again, the complete opposite of what developing with agility is supposed to be.
Sounds like a good starting place is learning about lean development and building a minimum viable product, since they're so sensitive about estimate granularity. That manager will have to learn to lead building a very minimum viable product, with as minimally necessary a valuable feature set as possible.
I recommend reading:
Your intuition is 100% spot on and defines the difference between a product-oriented approach and a market-oriented approach.
Product Orientation states that somebody already has an idea for a product they're attempting to sell, they just need to figure out how to sell it. This is usually the case with things like restaurants, for example, who specialize in a particular category of food, but also usually the case for somebody who feels they can improve the field they already work in. This mindset believes with the correct sales push, anything can be sold. It's also where we got the phrase "location, location, location".
Market Orientation takes the opposite approach and asks, "what problems are there in the world that need solving" and then attempts to build a product revolving around that. This mindset requires an immense amount of research as well as the flexibility to work within whatever field your research suggests and goes against the "follow your dreams" mantra we've been taught as kids.
Generally speaking, product orientation is considered a bit dated and market orientation is more successful. That said, the age of the internet is changing this theory a bit. From my perspective, product orientation is still a valid strategy, it just has a higher risk of failure.
But with all that said, the book I'm grabbing that pyramid from (The Lean Product Playbook) assumes you've already designated a product you're working on. It's less for the entrepreneur and more for the average product designer working for a company who already have a product in mind.
Here's a link to the book if you felt like learning more about it:
https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Product-Playbook-Innovate-Products/dp/1118960874
Apprenticeship Patterns is a good read for developing a positive attitude toward your work and career.
Becoming a Technical Leader isn't necessarily for people later in their careers. I gained a lot from reading it during my first internship.
Anil Dash's blog has some posts on important topics like diversity within the tech community.
What I've linked above help with the attitude side of 'soft skills', which I think is the most important part. The interpersonal skills come with time, practice, and being mindful of how your communication and behavior affect others.
Edit: Here's another post on how to be assertive and nice.
How are you marketing your business currently?
Here's some good books to read although they're geared more towards managing and motivating a workforce. Others may have better recommendations for books on growing as a startup or small business. Ultimately, you need to focus on marketing your company and targeting your ideal customer.
Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet
https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Ship-Around-Turning-Followers/dp/1591846404
How to Become a Great Boss by Jeffrey Fox
https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Great-Boss-Employees/dp/0786868236/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484506909&sr=1-2&keywords=how+to+a+great+boss
How to Be a Great Boss by Gino Wickman
https://www.amazon.com/How-Great-Boss-Gino-Wickman/dp/1942952848/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484506909&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+a+great+boss
Good to Great by Jim Collins (I just started this)
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484507074&sr=1-1&keywords=good+to+great
EDIT: Here's another one.
Traction. Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman. I haven't read this but the CEO did and we use the structure and methods from this book to run our company. https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
I'm just now implementing Scrum formally within our company. For me, at the time, it's all upside. I have a CEO & COO that are non-technical (at least as far as software development is concerned), that have really been struggling to understand the team's productivity in a meaningful way.
For me, being able to plan sprints and develop a velocity has been a game-changer. It's very easy now for them to prioritize work and know with a high degree of confidence where we will be after our sprint is finished. That's very important to them, so Scrum really simplifies my life because it's much easier to plan with them using the tools it provides.
I personally purchased Jeff Sutherland's book "Scrum", who was a co-creator, through Audible. Worked pretty well as an e-book, since the complexity is pretty low and most of it was conceptual. https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X/
Some books that I've found interesting and helpful are:
Also, I think participating in this sub has helped me become a better leader at work.
Yes, I've read Verne's second book, Scaling Up. I would recommend skipping that one though and going straight to "Traction" which is like "Scaling Up" but for smaller companies. "Traction" has become very popular in the entrepreneurial community the past few years and it's a great system to run a business in.
First, congratulations!
It's different work and while it's still technical it's now about people but it can be learned. Find a mentor who is not your boss. Seriously. It's good to have one or more advocates in the organization because there are limits to what "push" vs "pull" can achieve but it's their advice that you need to reduce your mistakes and effectively review them afterward.
I'll add to the book recommendations already here (The Phoenix Project, Team of Teams, Leaders Eat Last) and suggest:
Good luck!
I think a start with SCRUM requires understanding of roots of this methodology, that is why I would start from reading (or re-reading if you are already familiar with the book) of Doing Twice the Work in Half a Time by Jeff Sutherland.
Then go for the Scrum Guide, it is all there.
I believe that right implementation of SCRUM requires 2 things: discipline (military roots) and shuhari concept from martial arts. In simple words, you need to start doing it step-by-step and it is obligatory to do it by the book, you will not master it in 1 day and SCRUM is always a process of a continuous improvement.
Start with the things that are simple to implement and give the best results:
- working in sprints (1 week is great);
- daily stand up;
- sprint review;
- retrospectives;
- backlog and user stories;
- deliver to production at the end of each sprint;
- focus on 1 user story at a time, etc, etc.
then you can go for certifications: CSM is a good way to start and understand if you want to keep on getting certificates and you would understand that there are many ways to keep on improving your SCRUM further.
don't forget that Jeff Sutherland has a bunch of online lectures about SCRUM @ https://www.scruminc.com ,
someone already recommended to read Mike Cohn, I double that.
emagdnim2100 has the right idea here. As a boot LT, your best asset are your senior NCOs, so its much more important to understand the way that they think and operate then anything else. This book is actually pretty good at identifying and explaining some of the different situations you will find yourself in.
http://www.amazon.com/Small-Unit-Leadership-Commonsense-Approach/dp/0891411739/ref=pd_sim_b_2
> but it often gets derailed because we have a fairly large team and everyone seems to feel the need to say something, even if it is only tangentially related to the topic of discussion.
Oh no. Any meeting with more than 5 people trying to have a dialogue is a terrible idea...
> It's funny you mention adding stories to the sprint for meeting attendance because that's exactly what we do. I don't even want to look at how many hours I've logged so far for this sprint. It's mind-boggling.
My god, it's worse than I thought! I was half joking when I said that...
> How would you justify refusing to attend these meetings?
Well, it kind of depends on a few things, like how much you like your manager, how good is your relationship with your 2nd line manager, how much do you care about the job, how much can you get away with, etc.
In your sprint retrospectives, have you considered making one of the "Stop" actions being "Stop spending so much time during sprints discussing issues that are more appropriate for sprint retrospectives?" or "Stop having so many meetings"? BTW, does your manager attend your retrospectives? I don't believe they're supposed to, but even if they do, it might be a good way for all of you to unite and express your feelings on the matter in a "safety in numbers" group environment.
Otherwise, it sounds like you've already tried the diplomatic approach of talking to your manager (I assume privately?) about the meetings, and expressing that you don't think they're a productive use of your time. If you're on good terms with your 2nd line manager, you might consider mentioning it to them. Or, I don't know what your work environment is like (small/big office?), but what would happen if you just didn't go to the meeting? Or, what would happen if you just got up and left when the discussion drifted into the sprint issues away from the agenda?
Also, not sure it'll help, but you might consider buying your manager a copy of Peopleware. Every dev manager should read this. Even developers should read it. Of course, then you'll be even more pissed about all the stuff your management is doing wrong...
I agree with the other comments here.
What are you trying to achieve by getting your directs to put more time in at the office? Are they not getting projects done on time? In most cases, working additional hours past the normal results in a dramatic reduction in employee effectiveness and satisfaction. Jeff Sutherland (one of the founders of Scrum) has an entire chapter on this in his latest book.
Also, the sandwich feedback method is terrible. It is totally transparent and your directs will not respect the lack of candor. I personally prefer the Manager Tools Feedback Model of 1)asking permission to share feedback 2) stating the action 3) stating the consequences of that action. It is super simple and straight to the point. It works for both positive and corrective feedback.
Interesting that I was never required to read any of these books while in college. Luckily, I have read 5 of the 12 on my own time and they have definitely helped me in my professional development - Refactoring, Clean Code and Design Patterns in particular. I also highly recommend Peopleware and reading other people's code on Github or elsewhere, particularly if you are learning a new language.
Good for you bilbobillikins! A couple of books that helped me make the transition were - High Output Management and First, Break All the Rules. Apart from this there is a great series of podcasts where Mike and Mark talk about various challenges and have a great perspective on how to deal with typical situation that managers would face. You can find them at Manager Tools website.
I like The Four Agreements a lot. https://www.miguelruiz.com/the-four-agreements
And my coach pointed me to Thick Face, Black Heart, which is also great. https://www.amazon.com/Thick-Face-Black-Heart-Philosophy/dp/0446670200
High Output Management actually comes pretty close! It's a great read and talk a lot about what a great CEO does.
http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time is the most important. It is Scrum broken down by the creator of Scrum. It’s filled with some good empirical data and is pretty trade-agnostic. Not super specific for tech work just work in general. If you want a good tech use-case of scrum and agile methodologies The Lean Startup is pretty insightful and convinced me that documenting every detail of a product before developing never works.
Neat another good thing ruined by Facebook. First they give me president Biff now they fuck my favorite medium up continuously. I won’t give them my money. Don’t care if revive can let me play it.
Guess if you can’t make the quality product, change the game... wish people had listened to Dr Deming instead of trash 90’s business books. Peoples acceptance of this shit is going to crash an industry.
I took a post-grad class in entrepreneurship, where this was part of the curriculum. Peter Drucker was one of the most renowned researchers in entreprenuership, and the book gives a nice understanding of what to focus on if you want to be an entrepreneur.
That being said, you can't read your way to becoming an entrepreneur. It's all about networking, take part in as many networking events as possible, this is the way to get inspiration, and meet the people with money.
Oh and hard work also... Lots of hard work :)
Entrepreneurs do for a few years what most people want, so they can live the rest of their lifes like most people can't!
I always thought there should have been a subreddit called r/CompSciSoftSkills. I recently read a couple books, Peopleware and then The Mythical Man Month .
Peopleware mentioned that software development was more a sociological process than a technological one and I found that fascinating. I always thought that having a subreddit dedicated to exploring the sociological side of software development would be very interesting and revealing.
... and by extension and exploration of the skills outside whiteboards and code that apply to software dev.
This guy here, is in my opinion the greatest President USC has ever had. He turned this University into what it is today.
I highly recommend new and old Trojans alike read his book to understand his style of leadership:
http://www.amazon.com/Contrarians-Guide-Leadership-Steven-Sample/dp/0787967076
"Under his stewardship, USC rose from 51st to 26th in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of U.S. universities, and the number of its freshman applicants tripled. The university also became more selective, with acceptance rates dropping from 70% to 24%."
In your scenario, I feel like simplicity is going to be key because this your first time doing it.
I discuss your question in my video: https://youtu.be/tvK0BYO-9R0?t=529
​
A lot can get lost in extravagant business plans. The important thing is that you can PROVE what you have done and that it works. Basically, will putting more money into this engine = a return?
Scrum masters can come from any background. Having PM knowledge is helpful but not required. A scrum master is a guide and coach for the team. They are responsible for ensuring the team is following the rules of scrum, facilitating their meetings, and overall helping the team on the path to high performance.
Understanding the rules of scrum and the agile principles are more important. In your first SM role you will likely be following the scrum guide as closely as possible but the importance will be in understanding why the practices exist. What is important in the daily scrum? Why do we ask the 3 questions? What is the real goal in that meeting? etc... Eventually guiding and facilitating becomes more about the principles, outcomes, and goals than the rules of scrum but that comes with time.
Pay attention to the people on the team. I suggest looking into some personality or team-working books as a scrum master should be in tune enough to understand the work being done (technical and business purposes) and how the people work together. Conflicts amongst team members can be a difficult impediment to remove.
Maybe leave a copy of Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams lying around prominently? It has a number of studies showing that a quiet, distraction-free workplace does pay off.
> What I'd give to just move my desk into a corner, or to face a wall, but I'm not sure that would go over well.
> My stuff is on a shelf, and there's no room to put anything on the desk.
The appropriate adage here is "It's easier to ask forgiveness than get permission". There's a clear business need for developers to not be distracted while working; reconfigure/move your area one evening—see if you can get someone else to do the same, there's strength in numbers—and see how it goes. (I take it you've already tried raising the issue through normal channels.) If asked, explain that you're easily distracted by conversations and people walking by (i.e., couch it as your weakness, not their lousy setup) and really need to make some process on the Frobnicator feature if it's to be done by next Tuesday.
If you need space for pictures or toys or other personalization, stack a couple boxes/crates on each other to extend your desk. Call it "startup chic". Maybe it'll shame them into giving you more space.
Listen to the people who work for you. For every one person under you it takes a few hours a week to manage as a rule of thumb. When I say manage, I talk about leadership, developing them, understanding them, understanding how they want to grow and stretch.
I highly recommend reading the following book too about teams. It's a great book and in my experience holds true with small teams and large global teams.
http://www.amazon.com/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Fable/dp/0787960756
I recommend the book Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy
Thinking like a hacker is thinking outside the box, thinking about things that others haven't thought about with a piece of given technology (or non-technology).
na re - reading this now - https://www.amazon.in/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884
THIS BOOK needs to be studied.
quite possibly the best management book by the best tech manager EVER
If you are interested in Scrum, I'd recommend reading Software in 30 days and/or Scrum, the art of doing twice the work in half the time or at the very least, read the Scrum Guide. For agile in a larger sense, there are plenty of good books, like The Art of Agile Development or Agile with GUTS
And remember to tell all the people who work for you that
>"If you haven't got a hernia yet, you ain't pulling your share."
>--George Steinbrenner, owner, New York Yankees
edit: I've got another one for you, from the guy who said "love the janitor".
>"workers have unlimited juice to squeeze".
>--Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
and the first one on the list is also known for
>“fear is the best motivator"
>--Andy Grove, from his 1984 book, "High Output Management"
I read a book about good leadership and their CEO was talked about in it. I would quote it, but I gave the book to my little brother in hopes he would glean some good info from it.
Here is it for anyone wondering the book!
Read Peopleware. I don't know how much will be directly applicable, but it sounds like you're the perfect audience for it. I think you'll get something from it.
Have you ever read Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time? If not, I'd highly recommend picking it up. Scrum is a framework teams can use to complete complex projects.
As the new person on the team, perhaps you could help the company most by bringing entrepreneurial structure and philosophy. Presumably, the consolidation will mean that you're doing more work with less people (and thereby, you need to be more efficient). Most people think of using the Scrum framework strictly for software development, but in reality it's a framework that can be applied to any environment. Given that the team only will have four individuals, using this methodology will ensure that the team remains empowered and maintains the level of transparency necessary to successfully combine entities.
I'm in the same boat. Product Hunt surge, now need to work on marketing. I just read a book called "Traction" that is interesting. It lists out 19 different channels and provides recent examples and case studies. I'm not going to follow the book verbatim, but there are definitely some good takeaways.
http://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837
Depending on how much project management you do vs. personnel management, there is Cracking the PM Interview by the same author (though possibly ghostwritten).
General personnel management probably involves more general management interview questions, for which I'm sure a million books have been written (though I don't know enough about them to recommend a specific one).
Edit: If you haven't already, though, read Peopleware. If more shops were run like they suggest, the world would be a better place.
Any other pointers?
Depending on country/state... you will probably want to document every time you confront him with these issues.
There's a book I really like that helps with employees called "Small Unit Leadership" - it helps to create basic rubrics for evaluates your team, how much training it might take to get them on the right path and what's expected of your time or another manager's time to get them that training.
> Here's a link to the book if you felt like learning more about it: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Product-Playbook-Innovate-Products/dp/1118960874
Thanks for the link. How much does this book differ from Lean Startup Method? I've read that, but would be willing to give this one a shot if you think it's worth my while.
edit: ordered it anyways. Currently reading "User Story Mapping" by Jeff Patton but will dive in as soon as I'm finished, thanks for the reco.
Give this a skim and you'll get an idea. Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy was good too.
Ugh, been there. Not going to get better until the owner gets better.
Do yourself a favor. Buy this book, and anonymously leave it in his office. Highlight Chapter 2: Letting Go of the Vine.
https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837/
I just chose some books that looked good from this list and this one.
The one's I got:
Clean Code
(already read)
Cracking the Coding Interview
Code Complete
Peopleware
Don't Make Me Think
Code (currently reading)
Regular Expressions Cookbook
Head First Design Patterns
C++ Primer
Working Effectively with Legacy Code
Elements of Programming Interviews in Java
The Mythical Man-Month
The Design of Everyday Things
JavaScript and JQuery
I figure that's enough reading material to last me until I graduate.
Intelligence – Analysis – Insight
---
> The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security (2003), Kevin Mitnick https://www.amazon.com/Art-Deception-Controlling-Element-Security/dp/076454280X/
> Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything (2017), Bryce Hoffman https://www.amazon.com/Red-Teaming-Competition-Challenging-Everything/dp/1101905972/
> Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas (2015), John Pollack https://www.amazon.com/Shortcut-Analogies-Connections-Innovation-Greatest/dp/1592409474/
> Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy (2015), Micah Zenko https://www.amazon.com/Red-Team-Succeed-Thinking-Enemy/dp/0465048943/
---
Here are some other news items:^credits ^to ^u-sr33
> NIST Wants To Know How Utility Companies Can Deter Hackers
> Vitaly Churkin, Russian Ambassador To U.N., Is Dead At 64
> Russia's ambassador to U.N. dies suddenly after falling ill in New York City
> Current national defense models don’t work in cyberspace
---
^I'm ^a ^bot ^| ^OP ^can ^reply ^with ^"delete" ^to ^remove ^| ^Message ^Creator ^| ^Source ^| ^Did ^I ^just ^break? ^See ^how ^you ^can ^help! ^Visit ^the ^source ^and ^check ^out ^the ^Readme
I really enjoyed Contrarian's Guide to Leadership by Steven Sample.
Lots of good advice by a guy who's been leading people for awhile (was USC's president for just under 20 years).
Sorry, that was rather dickhead thing to say. I had gotten a couple pieces of bad news yesterday and was way off in grumpy little bitch land.
Part of the thing (IMO) about DevOps is *even if your company isn't doing it you should be*. Not the particular technical practices, but the values--people before processes, humility, respect etc.
One of the big things in DevOps at that layer is "Shared Responsibility". The *original* idea behind DevOps was that Dev and Ops had to WORK TOGETHER to build good tools. That Architects didn't originate an idea, have a couple meetings with Dev and then move on while Dev wrote the code and threw it over the wall to Ops, who then tried to make it work until Security noticed it and threw their weekly shit fit.
A new workflow isn't the Architects job, it's not the Dev's job, it's not "your" job (whatever part in the chain you play), it's *everybody's* job.
So tell your boss "Hey, send me an email telling me to Get With People and Make This Happen", then go do it.
And read the ultimate DevOps handbook: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/B015TM0RM4/
Go get some.
I have not even half the experience you have, but I can second this based on what I've seen and been guilty of myself. Bizarrely, developers have the analytic skills to understand psychology and business/economic issues, but often are too dazzled by the coding challenge to apply them. Also, programming has a strange reinforcing effect, where years of bashing away figuring out how to make things work reinforces your own ego, and without a reality check now and again you may end up convincing yourself you're the smartest person on earth. (I found the first 3 years or so of programming convinced me I was the most stupid person on earth, but that did reverse at some point.)
From what I've seen, developers don't necessarily stay like this. Most, with age and experience, start to see the bigger picture and make decisions based on the broader goals of a project. And having your fingers burnt needlessly reimplementing core libraries does eventually teach you why people share code in the first place. Having many young/inexperienced developers on a project is a big risk though, as chance of getting lost on a tangent is much higher.
I wish Peopleware was more widely read, that really opened my eyes to the issue of psychology in software.
Any product will spawn competition. You can either let another company be the competition, or you can provide your own competing product.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is a fantastic book that covers many ideas like this, and provides insight into much of how we think as humans. Read it and consider, for example, the rise and fall of various open source projects as you do.
This is a nightmare. After reading Peopleware (http://www.amazon.de/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Tom-DeMarco/dp/0321934113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421350607&sr=8-1&keywords=peopleware) you'd expect major players like Facebook and the likes have learned by now. But nooooo, let's continue to pretend a software company is a huge fabric where people sit in front of monitors instead of working the assembly line. What else could be different?
\ It is entirely possible that they just do this to show off to stakeholders, because those aren't impressed by a row of closed doors.
If you're the type of person who hates books about management babble, then you're just like me. Having said that, I did get a lot out of this one book. It's a great book for helping with team building, and it covers OP's exact topic as one of the major points.
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Fable/dp/0787960756
This was an All Blacks policy brought in after the 2007 world cup QF loss to the French. James Kerr wrote about it in his book "Legacy" which has become pretty popular with sports management types.
> "the point of the policy is to wean out inflated egos and make everything about the team, with his central belief being you can’t 'be a positive person on the field and a prick off it'."
https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/all-blacks-no-dickheads-allowed/
I guess I'm old, but Gerald Weinberg was a huge influence on my development as a programmer and an analyst.
The Psychology of Computer Programming, written in 1971, is still relevant today, even if the coding examples are ancient.
Becoming a Technical Leader was a huge influence on my personal development.
Finally,the Quality Software Management 4 book series belongs in every manager's and developer's library.
You know those business leadership guides on behavior and such? Like for example having nice leader/tough Second in Command (or vice versa)? They actually work quite well to resolving issues before they even begin. Most of them you can get out of the 5 dysfunctions of a team.
The anime club I ran at my community college avoided a ton of drama for a quite a while even after I left because I tried to solve problems or issues before they even occurred. Unfortunately I do hear it's now a drama llama mostly because they undid all the rules and procedures I put in place years ago. Thinking and planning ahead as much as possible helps immensely. I also suggest having mechanisms/rules in place to stop one singular person from controlling the entire anime club and that includes the president/leader.
I really enjoyed this book: http://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Entrepreneurship-Peter-F-Drucker/dp/0060851139/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450073425&sr=1-5&keywords=peter+drucker
Surprisingly applicable to IT management in general. On nimble team mentality, etc.
Radical Candor is good. Extreme Ownership also. I had an old CEO recommend Wooden, by John Wooden, but I didn't get a ton out of it at the time.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0932633021/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 Becoming a Technical Leader came highly recommended to me, but I haven't gotten into it yet.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things -- Ben Horowitz. GREAT as an audiobook.
Traction: Get a grip on your business -- Gino Wickman. Good for unknotting the reasons for constantly stalling out on progress. It's meant for large offices, apparently, but even my little office benefited since the habits are universal.
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph -- Ryan Holiday
This is my favorite book on team building. http://www.amazon.com/The-Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership/dp/0787960756
It contains some great lessons about how to address these issues, as they are generally indicative of deeper problems w/in the organization, rather than just with the meetings themselves.
https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp/0887306667
Best I've read and it's not close.
Jeff Sutherland's book Agile: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time is a great read for anyone that hasn't practiced Agile.
http://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X
Peopleware has an entire chapter on this, as I recall. Great book.
I've read about 50-60 books on marketing and I can boil down everything you need to know about marketing in these two articles and one book:
the lean product playbook is excellent, (no this is not an affiliate link, nor am I the author) https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Product-Playbook-Innovate-Products/dp/1118960874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549985813&sr=8-1&keywords=lean+product+playbook
Check out The Art of 'Ware
Whether in or out of the tech industry, this is a good example of adapting the work to practical business application.
Also The Asian Mind Game and the even more controversial Thick Face, Black Heart are essential business reading.
Lure the Tiger from the Mountain is all nice sounding and exotic. When you're talking about forcing business competitors to fight you on your terms, it's better.
When you see how smart phones looked (largely) unlike the iPhone before Apple entered the market, and like knock-offs after Apple entered the market, then you understand lure the tiger from the mountain.
Having read The Art of War is for cocktail party talk. Few who talk about having read it apply it.
This book has helped us a lot to think about the team, management and studio dynamics. I would recommend it - it doesn't matter that it isn't game industry specific, nor how big your team is.
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Fable/dp/0787960756
I thoroughly enjoyed The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
This might be worth a read. It really opened my eyes to the fact that teams ( just like individuals) can have different levels of development and how to recognize these different stages...
http://www.amazon.com/Tribal-Leadership-Leveraging-Thriving-Organization/dp/0061251321
How to be part of a team and lead a team.
There's one book to read - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
I read this book, and it opened up my eyes. Working as part of a team is THE most valuable thing I've learned.
SCRUM! a good overall book is SCRUM
Thick Face Black Heart is also good.
Good idea. Currently selling for $13 used on Amazon.
Peopleware - Gives interesting insights into the "soft" side of software development
This scrum book specifically values regular time off, and even espouses a 4 day week.
Podcasts:
Books:
I also recommend the book Peopleware
there is an excellent book called peopleware that goes into lots of management fads, check it out, you might just like it.
What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team, NY Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
One-On-One Meetings - https://getlighthouse.com/blog/how-to-start-one-on-ones-your-teams/
Growing Great Employees, Erika Andersen - http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Great-Employees-Extraordinary-Performers/dp/1591841909 (though I hate the stupid comparisons with plants)
The Year Without Pants, Scott Berkun - http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Without-Pants-WordPress-com/dp/1118660633
The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber http://www.amazon.com/The-E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses/dp/0887307280
Please go and buy and read all of these this week, for the sake of you and your team:-
https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897
https://www.amazon.ca/Managing-Humans-Humorous-Software-Engineering/dp/1430243147
https://www.amazon.ca/Debugging-Teams-Productivity-through-Collaboration/dp/1491932058
https://www.amazon.ca/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Fable/dp/0787960756
> How to discuss and compromise on decisions in a team
So, this is going to be super non-specific to TTRPGs/design work, but I cannot recommend reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team enough.
A TLDR for one of the major points of the book:
Reasonable adults don't always need to get their way but they do need to feel as if their concerns and beliefs have been listened to, considered, and addressed. This requires both trust and a team commitment to actually getting into productive conflict over contentious ideas or solutions. Without these, you're always going to have a hard time with decisions and getting the team to commit properly to them.
There is, unfortunately, no magic way to get to this point. You have to work together and build these relationships and behaviors. If you know a silver bullet, I'm all ears.
Scrum is a form of Agile.
Having a team come in to teach Scrum is ok. I did that once. However, I got a lot more out of this book: https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X
C For Dummies, Volumes 1 and 2, by Dan Gookin. At almost 1200 pages, it goes through everything a beginner should know in a very readable way, with no preconditions on prior knowledge. These books will take you from a complete novice to the sort of programmer who can pick up another language similar to C (most of them) in a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately it looks like they shrunk these tomes into a single book that doesn't even mention pointers in the most recent version. C All-in-One Desk Reference may be closer.
Peopleware, by Tom DeMarco. If you ever want to manage a software development team, or even really work with a team, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Team Geek is in the same realm.
JavaScript: The Good Parts, by Douglas Crockford is a necessary read if you're doing anything significant in modern web development. JavaScript is a weird little language and if you don't know best practices, it's very, very easy to get lost. This book will tell you where not to look.
How about yourself, OP?
Well if you are looking for study material here are some links to books I suggest.
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Project-Management-Body-Knowledge/dp/1935589679/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405382005&sr=8-1&keywords=pmbok
http://www.amazon.com/PMP-Exam-Prep-Eighth-Edition/dp/1932735658/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
http://pmhigherlearning.com/project-management-exam-guide/
One of the first books I read which brough my attention to the subject was:
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X
After that - take anything google throws at you ;)
https://www.amazon.com/Thick-Face-Black-Heart-Philosophy/dp/0446670200 Should work just fine.
I think most marketers would agree this book is a great starting point to learn some of the fundamental marketing principles(theories).
https://www.amazon.ca/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp/0887306667
I will caution you when you do google searches for marketing that there are endless numbers of crappy “marketing courses” and gurus — don’t waste your money.
https://buffer.com/library/social-proof
You might want to read a few Marketing books if you're going to start a business. (https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp/0887306667, https://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Things-Catch-Jonah-Berger/dp/1451686587/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=A83W2B73QMKMTAK2D36K)
For those that want more to read.
I can recommend some books. Don't get irritated by the titles or the covers. These are solid books from people who know what they are writing about.
https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468936714&sr=8-1&keywords=high+output+management
this is a MUST READ before you begin.
https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp/0887306667
also, another suggestion would be a site with a live global map.
two maps actually.
one map shows the countries that are priced out of using crypto due to bitcoin fees.
The other shows the countries that CAN use bitcoin cash.
Small Unit Leadership: a common sense approach
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
The Mythical Man-Month
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming
Personally, my go-to leadership books are The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 5 Levels of Leadership both by John C Maxwell.
In realtà non mi ricordo esattamente se la citazione viene da The Mythical Man-Month o se da Peopleware, li ho letti praticamente uno dietro l’altro. Se non li conosci, consiglio vivamente.
Non discuto che il “mitico mese-uomo” sia moneta corrente, il discorso è che sappiamo da anni che è una moneta rozza e inaffidabile, e quindi va presa con pinze molto lunghe.
Book Recommendation
If you google "sweep the shed" it comes up with hundreds of articles about the ABs. It's even in the the blurb of this book.
>Champions do extra.
>They sweep the sheds.
I haven't read either of these books so I can't vouch for them personally, but my understanding is that Peopleware and Mythical Man Month are classics.
Gino Wickman.
https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Team-Succeed-Thinking-Enemy/dp/0465048943
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical/dp/0143127535
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Legacy-James-Kerr/dp/147210353X
https://www.amazon.com/Thick-Face-Black-Heart-Philosophy/dp/0446670200
https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X
The first book a new programmer should read is Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister.
Links:
If you're serious about a PM career, you'll probably want to pursue the PMP credential, which requires (from the PMI site):
because everyone thinks their team problems are unique and really they're all just stale memes.
if you read this you'll be able to perfectly line up all the shitheads in your department with the book characters
High Output Management, from former Intel CEO, Andy Grove.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Hell, I loved it so much I wrote an outline about it.
You can derive so much value from this, whether or not you are a manager.
Write down every single action you do due the day for 1 month. After 1 month review them and
Sort them by
Repaet that process after 3-6 months...
You find more detailed information in the book from peter drucker;
https://www.amazon.de/Effective-Executive-Definitive-Harperbusiness-Essentials/dp/0060833459
A few recommendations:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601630328/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Ca$hvertising)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887306667/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (the 22 immutable laws of marketing)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591845335/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Seth Godin)
There's too many to name. There's not really a lot that pack so much punch that they're more important than getting your hands dirty and doing.
Thanks! Will definitely take a look! At this moment I am reading this book Peopleware:
http://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-3rd/dp/0321934113/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406873165&sr=1-1&keywords=peopleware
It has similar theme: we should care about people and grow together. Unfortunately we don't really have many companies who do that. I mean, just read this thread at polycount (warning: huge wall of text):
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137206
Practically everyone is saying that the industry full of incompetent people even at higher management positions who do nothing but make peoples' lives harder. Depressing, isn't it?
I wonder if Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister has been translated to Japanese. If so, then it contains some very solid and well-reasoned arguments on how overtime is counterproductive and hurtful to the business.
My awnser has nothing to do with gun laws and all with the presumption than the US is more prone to violence because of some special minorities. As far as I know, all evidence seams to point to a mix of relationship between persived groups. First how much a group defines oneself as victim of the cultural divergence. This divergence is effected by economical division, religion/worldview, vertical mobility in the "gesellschaft". In that order. Based on the Tribal leadership one could structure all social groups in a system which could explain which has the highest probability to react with violence on persived external forces.
In the US, almost all groups identify as victims of "the system", this manifest in the discussion culture, policeforce/judicial culture, conflicts around recorces and so on. Violence is just an aspect of this intergroup communication.
In Europe culture of integration of diffrent cultural groups is stronger. Germany, italy, the UK, Spain and France are on of the biggest countries in Europe all are worldwide special, because of its integration of diffrent cultural heritages.
Thank shitty hiring practices that fail to do audition style interviews, where you have the applicant run through a set of tasks common to/representative of the job, using a non-production environment/machine.
That way you, and preferably a few people who do the applicant's job, can see their capabilities, not hear what they say they can do or rote facts they can recall on memory.
Every IT manager should read Peopleware and apply its principles wherever possible in their organization. Sadly, most companies lack leadership of that quality.