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Last active March 25, 2018 19:46
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Tech Books
Book Theme Recommended By Notes
[Remote: Office Not Required](http://batman.com) Distributed Work Moyinoluwa Adeyemi A great book about how to function as a distributed team. Full review here: https://tech.offgrid-electric.com/book-review-remote-office-not-required-e75e19c68529
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Communication / Team Management Thor Muller From the time we learn to speak, we’re told that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. When you become a manager, it’s your job to say it--and your obligation.
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 Communication / Self Management Dian four, core EQ skills that enable you to achieve your fullest potential: 1) Self-Awareness 2) Self-Management 3) Social Awareness 4) Relationship Management
Creativity, Inc - Ed Catmull  Creative work / Collaboration Dan Mayer How to encourage deep thought and creativity in a working environment, told through the story of Pixar
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable Team Dynamics many of my (Dan's) previous managers  Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. 
The Advantage, Enhanced Edition: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business Team Dynamics / Collaboration many of my (Dan's) previous managers  Simply put, an organization is healthy when it is whole, consistent and complete, when its management, operations and culture are unified.  Healthy organizations outperform their counterparts, are free of politics and confusion and provide an environment where star performers never want to leave.
The Checklist Manifesto Processes / Tools Galt How checklists, as simple as they are, have transformed many industries when used in a codified, systematic way. Argues everyone should use checklists all the time always for everything. 
The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change Team Management many of my (Dan's) previous managers  Managing people is difficult wherever you work. But in the tech industry, where management is also a technical discipline, the learning curve can be brutal—especially when there are few tools, texts, and frameworks to help you. 
High Output Management Team Management Thor Muller The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses—the art of the entrepreneur—can be summed up in a single word: managing.
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done Team Management / Leadership @QuickerLeft @kovyrin Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that can, and must, be learned: • Managing time • Choosing what to contribute to the organization • Knowing where and how to mobilize strength for best effect • Setting the right priorities • Knitting all of them together with effective decision-making
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager Team Management various folks This book is full of stories based on companies in the Silicon Valley where people have been known to yell at each other and occasionally throw chairs.  (note, I, Dan Mayer I haven't read this, but have had it recommended a number of times)
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams Team Management various folks Its underlying strength is its base of immense real experience, much of it quantified. Many, many varied projects have been reflected on and distilled; but what we are given is not just lifeless distillate, but vivid examples from which we share the authors’ inductions. Their premise is right: most software project problems are sociological, not technological. (note, I, Dan Mayer I haven't read this, but have had it recommended a number of times)
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering Team Management /  software project management Dan Mayer Assigned to me in College, one of the tech books I still think about most often. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects.
The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter Leadership many of my (Dan's) previous managers   turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader's success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz Leadership Dan Mayer Offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Time Management Iris van de Kieft Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. 
Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency Time Management many of my (Dan's) previous managers  I haven't read Deep Work, but feel like this book and it are very similar and Deep Work is much newer and likely a bit more relevant to todays challenges.
Antifragile (and really anything else by him) - Nassim Taleb Systems Design Thor Muller Taleb challenges how people think about risk, perception and human behavior. Antifragile is possibly his most actionable book for product designers and developers, in that he provides guidance for what any system needs to do if it is to not just withstand shocks and failures, but actually improve when they occur.  
The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt Psychology Thor Muller Haidt is a prominent evolutionary psychologist and developer of moral foundations theory. He explains the 5-6 core moral "taste centers" that drive our motivations as social animals. I have found it very useful for empathizing and finding common ground with people very different backgrounds than mind.
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman Behavioral Psychology Thor Muller The most important book for understanding how our minds mislead us, i.e., biases and fallacies. It's like the missing manual to the human brain.
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