My Favorite "Management" Books

Besides the books that I’ve previously listed, here are some books that are more focused on management rather then software engineering or technical project management that I’ve found to still be good reads for engineers.

The First 90 Days gives advice on how to transition into new roles with case studies on do’s and don’t. I found it useful in helping to develop a learning plan for myself whenever I start on a new team or in a new role.

Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance isn’t a “how to manage” book or even a “How Louis Gerstner manages” book. It’s presented more as a story of IBM’s turn-around. I like to read this book when I feel frustrated about a company to remind myself that change can happen even in the largest of companies.

Additionally, here are some books that’s been recommended to me which I have not yet read but I thought that I’d pass along:

• Debugging Teams (formerly Team Geek)
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Manga Edition)
• The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

Fun Books for the Software Developers

After the serious readings for programming, algorithms and software craftsmanship here are some fun readings for our profession.

Entertaining History of Our Profession

• Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition
• Rebel Code: Linux And The Open Source Revolution
• Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government Saving Privacy in the Digital Age

Hacker Fiction

Rick Cook’s Wizardy series is a fantasy series for computer buffs that tells the story of a Silcon Valley hacker who finds himself in a different world where he discovers that magic can be “programmed” and is asked save the world from the “Dark League”. Rick Cook definitely have some familiarity with programming and I found his stories to be a fun read and his computer humor entertaining.

• Wizard’s Bane
• The Wizardry Compiled
• The Wizardry Cursed
• The Wizardry Consulted
• The Wizardry Quested

More Books for the Professional Developer

My previous post of books for developers focused on programming, but if you’re a professional programmer/developer/software engineer there are more things you’ll need to know besides writing code and algorithms.

Here are some books that I recommend for the professional or those who work with programmers.

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) - Describes Brooke’s Law that adding man power to a late project makes it later and other wisdom of software development project management.

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (3rd Edition) - Software development is ultimately done by people (not cogs and robots) and it’s important to remember that.

The Practice of Programming (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series) - Talks about the practical aspect of programming including “topics like testing, debugging, portability, performance, design alternatives, and style.”

Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering - A lot of common sense stuff about software engineering that are often forgotten in the thick of our work.

Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Theory in Practice) - There is a level of project management from individuals to teams that every engineering should be aware of. This is a good pragmatic book about getting projects done and not about specific methodologies.

Books For Every Programmer's Shelf

Here are some books that I believe should be on every programmer’s bookshelf.

“The C Programming Language, 2nd Edition” - By the creators of the C language, this concise book clearly teaches the foundations for the C language. For a more tutorial book on C, I would suggest “C Primer Plus”

“Wiley’s Teach Yourself C++” by Al Stevens - My favorite book for learning C++.

“Programming Pearls “ - A great collection of essays on programming including ways to approach programming problems.

“Programming Perl” - The definitive book for the Perl language by the creator of the language.

“The Art of Computer Programming, Volumes 1-4A Boxed Set” - This thick 4 volume set is a thick academic tomb of knowledge for computer science.

“Software Tools” or “Software Tools in Pascal” - Writing software tools and utilities is a special discipline.

“The Practice of Programming” - Easy to read text on programming practices.

“Win32 Programming” by Brent E. Rector, Joseph M. Newcomer - While Petzold’s Programming Windows®, Fifth Edition is generally considered THE book on windows programming, I actually like this book better because of its more in-depth coverage of the topics.

Here are some books for the professional programmer that isn’t around coding.