The Engineering Manager's Booklist Β
Books for people who are or aspire to manage/lead team(s) of software engineers. This includes, but isn't limited to, Team Leads, Tech Leads, Managers, Directors, VPs of Engineering and CTOs. Pull requests are welcome.
π¨πΎβπ» About Me
Hello, thanks for reading! A little about me, I have been an engineering manager at Fortune 100 companies and startups. This list represents the books that I have found valuable in my career. If you want to see what I'm reading checkout my list on GoodRead's list. Use the above buttons if you want to hear about my ramblings on engineering leadership.
Getting Started
First book
If you are going to read one book off of this list, I highly recommend the following:
The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier
Best of the List
There are a ton of great books on this list, but if you want to start out reading the top books, I would recommend the following:
The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier
Managing Humans by Michael Lopp
Managing the Unmanageable by Mickey W. Mantle and Ron Lichty
The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
An Elegant Puzzle - Systems of Engineering Management by Will Larson
Book selection
The books or subjects aren't in any particular order so feel free to dive into the topics that you want to learn more about.
Reading advice
Personally, I prefer audiobooks. They allow me to listen to books while I'm cooking in the kitchen, cleaning up my room, taking a walk around my neighborhood, commuting, etc. Usually, I listen to them at 1.5x to 2x the speed depending on how fast the person narrates the book.
Feedback
If you have any feedback feel free to fill out this super quick survey. I would love to hear from you!
π Books
Table of Contents
- Management
- Leadership
- People
- Culture
- Change Management
- Agile Methodologies
- Communication
- Public Speaking
- Onboarding
Management
Building Great Software Engineering Teams by Joshua Tyler
The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier
The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
Death by Meeting by Patrick M. Lencioni
High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
Managing Humans by Michael Lopp
Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker
The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke
The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni
Management 3.0 by Jurgen Appelo
Growing Software by Louis Testa
Principles of Software Engineering Management by Tom Glib
The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
Managing the Unmanageable by Mickey W. Mantle and Ron Lichty
Behind Closed Doors by Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby
An Elegant Puzzle - Systems of Engineering Management by Will Larson
97 Things Every Engineering Manager Should Know by Camille Fournier
Leadership
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
Leading Snowflakes by Oren Ellenbogen
The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison, and Craig Walsh
Leadership is an Art from Max Depree
Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell
Trillion Dollar Coach
by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle
Influencing without Authority by Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford
Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham, Ashley Goodall
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders by L. David Marquet
Coaching
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
People
Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Culture
It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
Good to Great by Jim Collins
How Google Works by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Slack by Tom DeMarco
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
Brotopia by Emily Chang
Change Management
Change or Die by Alan Deutschman
Switch by Dan Heath, Chip Heath, Charles Kahlenberg
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management by John P. Kotter, W. Chan Kim, RenΓ©e A. Mauborgne
Agile Methodologies
Scrum by Jeff Sutherland and JJ Sutherland
Essential Scrum by Kenneth S. Rubin
Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, and Ken Schwaber
Communication
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg PhD
Presence by Amy Cutty
Humble Inquiry by Edgar H. Schein
Public Speaking
Demystifying Public Speaking by Lara Hogan
Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun
Onboarding
First 90 Days by Harvard Business Review Press