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Ask HN: What books should I read as a software manager?

30 pointsmmelih21 comments

I am currently working as the head of an IT team consisting of developers, testers, product managers in a startup. I was one of the 2 developers in the same company a year ago and now our team has more than 10 people. So I have little experience as a manager and I want to improve myself.

Which books do you suggest?

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This list is still excellent: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum...

The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks

I second this!

I would also recommend the follow-up book entitled "The Design of Design" also by Frederick Brooks

I'd recommend the Phoenix Project - very easy read. http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Project-Helping-Business/d...

Seconded, really great book, super easy read.

Thirded. The narrative form threw me off at first, but I think it really lays out a lot of the concepts in a digestible way.

Peopleware by DeMarco and Lister

The One Minute Manager ... this is the first book I read when I became a manager and something I read again from time to time. It's simple and quick and gives you a basic framework to rely on.

These recommendations are great, but I'll add one I haven't seen here yet: "Notes to a Software Team Leader" by Roy Osherove. I think it's a great read on how to empower your teams to succeed on their own. And it's written from the perspective that is likely to be shared (at least in part) by your dev leads, so it'll likely have helpful insight in that way as well.

How to Win Friends and Influence People.

You will only advance as a manager by working through people, and this gives you a good framework for developing rapport.

Also check out manager-tools.com. The basics podcasts are invaluable to keeping sanity as a manager.

Eric Raymond, "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." On face, it's largely about FOSS development; but, more so, it's about how one ought to go about thinking of solutions to technical problems. A phenomenal read.

Getting Things Done - David Allen.

I read it when I had a team your size.

Managing Humans by Michael Lopp

http://managinghumans.com/

The Deadline http://amzn.to/1SW6Tgh

Also Peopleware http://amzn.to/1TYIMio And Slack http://amzn.to/1CDfnj4

Demarco is great!

High Output Management by Andy Grove

Dreaming in Code is work a read.

Management 3.0 by Jurgen Appelo.

John Lakos, Large Scale C++ Software Design. Read it even if you dont do C++ as the most valuable parts apply to any language.

Anything by Watts Humphrey.

Elliot Aronson, The Social Animal

Eric Berne MD, Games People Play

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