I have been working for many years in the software development industry and for the last few years I have been actively involved in the consulting and pre-sales phases. And I noticed that to be a successful leader for both the project manager representing the business side and the architect - the technical representative it is necessary to combine technical and leadership qualities.
Books are the most useful and effective source of learning for me. And I would like to share with you the top 10, in my opinion, books useful for beginners and not only leaders in software development. These books will help develop and improve the leadership skills required in the industry. I will not list famous management bestsellers such as Laws of Leadership or Good to Great. I will recommend more targeted books that will undoubtedly be useful to leaders in the software development industry.
The titles of all books will be indicated in the original language, but you can easily find many of them in translation.
Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering
Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition
This book is positioned as a developer's handbook, although the main focus is on development from a manager's perspective and how to work with the development team. Most projects have problems with planning, documentation, technical design and testing. The author helps to understand why this is happening, and most importantly, how to avoid it.
Death march
Death March (2nd Edition)
This read is not for beginners. The complex problems inherent in many commercial projects are touched upon. You can read solutions and next steps for very difficult cases on the project. For example, you don't have enough time, money, and resources to complete a project. The author suggests focusing on business goals and the main criteria for success for the project. How to discuss and prioritize project goals and use all available resources as efficiently as possible. You will understand when to be compliant and when to be tough. And most importantly, how to understand that the moment has come to leave the project. Step by step, you will learn behavioral patterns and hard cases on projects.
Consulting Outbreak: Manager and Software Architect Could be Friends
Consulting Outbreak: Manager and Software Architect Could be Friends
Easy and tedious reading for leaders just taking their first steps in consulting and architectural design projects. The author describes how to achieve maximum success in commercial projects at the initial stages of communication with a client. You will read how to properly prepare for consulting, what to do in the face of many uncertainties at the beginning of a project, and how to avoid failure. The main goal of this book is to help business people and technicians speak the same language and achieve the same goals.
The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management
The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management
This is a fairly well-known book, but at the same time I would like to include it on my list because it is written in the style of a business adventure novel. The main focus of this book is on working with people. Together with the main character, you can follow all stages of the project from the very beginning. The journey will begin team building and recruiting and end with layoffs and conflict management. A lot of humor and sarcasm makes the material easier to digest.
Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects
Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects
There are no successful projects without risk - this is the motto of the author. The author believes that it makes little sense to start a project if there are no risks, since in the absence of risks there is no benefit. Do not be afraid of risks, you should learn to predict and manage risks. As you read this book, you will learn how to classify, measure, prioritize, and mitigate risks.
Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers
Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers
This book will be useful for developers who want to develop leadership skills. If you have already started this path, you can improve and expand your knowledge. The author is very consistent and accurate. He remembers that you are still a developer and communicates with you as a developer while improving your managerial and leadership qualities. The structure of this book is very precise. It first explains how to try on the role of a leader, and only then talks about the correct communication with the team and senior managers.
The Art of Project Management
The Art of Project Management (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly))
A former Microsoft manager wrote a practical guide with many useful exercises for the aspiring project manager. The book has three main themes - planning. Practical exercises and management. Particular attention is paid to the mistakes that most novice managers make. For example, less experienced managers may ignore advice from more experienced colleagues in order to indulge their vanity. You can read about the ways that work and which don't work. Learn to build teams, assign roles, inspire your colleagues, build effective processes, and more.
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition)
Developers strive to create the best engineering solution, constantly improving the functionality and performance of the application, but forget about the main business goals of the project and usability. which is primarily important for the user. As a result, a lot of useless functionality for the average user appears in the project. The author believes that ease of use should come first, and only then the development itself.
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers
The author is the first to notice the huge gap between the two types of users. Pioneers are those who are willing to experiment and use the latest technology and pragmatists - those who use proven approaches and avoid anything new. The author explains how to bridge this chasm between the two types of users. This book is based on the author's thirty years of experience in marketing and sales. This book can be a desktop book for the project manager and marketer because it describes strategies that have been tried and tested many times in practice.
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love
In short, this book is about project managers who are looking for a trade-off between user satisfaction and business efficiency. What are the core skills a project manager, designer, and marketer should have? The author tells how to find the main functionality of the product that is most important for the user and not waste time on other details that the user does not need. This is a tutorial on how to create a minimal product that is useful to the user and, above all, the product that the user will truly love.
Write in the comments what books you would recommend to a novice manager and leader in the IT sector.
Bonus recommendations from readers
Goal: a process of continuous improvement
Purpose: the process of continuous improvement
American business novel, which answers the question of how to logically analyze the company's problems to make it successful and prosperous. The protagonist Alex Rogo holds the position of the head of the plant, which, trying to bring him out of the crisis, but faced various problems that could lead to the closure of the plant. With the help of a business consultant, the hero manages to develop a unique strategy that can save his enterprise.