Currently Reading: Inspired by Marty Cagan
Jeff Patton gave a copy of this book to the CSPO class I attended last year. I feel like a dummy for waiting a year to read it. Wow, is this book awesome. Doesn’t matter if you’re Agile or not, this book has all the common sense ideas you need to build killer products.
It focuses on users, UX and explains the difference between product management and project management as well as a whole host of other great info for putting the product first.
Recently Read:
Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Peter Lencioni
Getting Naked by Peter Lencioni
Collaboration Explained by Jean Tabaka
Excellent read for any manager, agile coach, scrum master or facilitator. Jean gives great examples of how to facilitate meetings, how to help teams collaborate and there are plenty of stories from her experience. There are also some tips for facilitation sessions based on different personality types which I found quite insightful.
The Introvert Advantage by Marti Laney
I never really thought of myself as an introvert. I was quite outspoken in high school and college, played drums and sang on stage in various rock bands and did countless really stupid stuff that you wouldn’t really expect an introvert to do.
I guess I developed into one over the years and couldn’t figure out “what was wrong with me”. This book helped me understand myself better and that I’m not a nut, I’m just an introvert! I was so moved by this book I’m in process of writing a review blog post for it. If you work with an introvert or are married to one, read this book. If you are an introvert, read this book. A quick run to the bookstore and a read of the opening is enough to decide to buy it.
What Type am I? by Renee Baron
I discovered I am INTP personality type. This book helped me understand the 16 different personality types and 4 temperaments. I felt this was important at this stage of my career because it has helped me understand, on a basic level, why people act the way they do. I have found that this has helped me in daily life by giving me better communication skills now that I understand a bit more about personalities. I plan to read this again and want to be able to recognize patterns in individuals so I can be a more effective coach and communicator.
In the queue:
Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
I was told by a collegue that “I ‘should’ read this book” That’s a bit of an inside joke, “should” is a word we don’t use. This book talks about how to make ideas stick. I read the first couple of chapters but it was bumped in favour of The Art of Focused Conversation. Sorry guys.
Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath
This is the sequel to Made to Stick, so to speak. I bought because I loved the first few chapter of ‘Made to Stick’
Good to Great by Jim Collins
I’m a bit embarrassed to say I haven’t read this yet as it’s been recommended by so many people I know. Oh well, it’s in the queue.
What’s on the Backlog?
- Agile Coaching by Rachel Davies and Liz Sedley: This book has had great reviews and I’m interesting in learning new coaching techniques.
- Are Your Lights On? by Gerald Weinberg and Donald Gause: This was recommended at AYE this year and it’s about being aware enough to find out what the real problem is. This will probably get bumped above Agile Java.
There are many more on the list, but this backlog is enough to keep me busy until January. I estimate I can read about 100 pages per week tops given my current schedule. All are relatively short compared to Agile Java so it’ll likely get bumped.