
Ask HN: What books should I read as a software manager? - mmelih
I am currently working as the head of an IT team consisting of developers, testers, product managers in a startup.
I was one of the 2 developers in the same company a year ago and now our team has more than 10 people.
So I have little experience as a manager and I want to improve myself.<p>Which books do you suggest?
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jseliger
This list is still excellent:
[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum.html)

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frostmatthew
_The Mythical Man-Month_ by Frederick Brooks

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mjstahl
I would also recommend the follow-up book entitled "The Design of Design" also
by Frederick Brooks

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njones
I'd recommend the Phoenix Project - very easy read.
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Project-Helping-
Business/d...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Project-Helping-
Business/dp/0988262592)

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brettlangdon
Seconded, really great book, super easy read.

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SeanKilleen
Thirded. The narrative form threw me off at first, but I think it really lays
out a lot of the concepts in a digestible way.

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loumf
Peopleware by DeMarco and Lister

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thewileyone
The One Minute Manager ... this is the first book I read when I became a
manager and something I read again from time to time. It's simple and quick
and gives you a basic framework to rely on.

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SeanKilleen
These recommendations are great, but I'll add one I haven't seen here yet:
"Notes to a Software Team Leader" by Roy Osherove. I think it's a great read
on how to empower your teams to succeed on their own. And it's written from
the perspective that is likely to be shared (at least in part) by your dev
leads, so it'll likely have helpful insight in that way as well.

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gadders
How to Win Friends and Influence People.

You will only advance as a manager by working through people, and this gives
you a good framework for developing rapport.

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GeoffreyP
Also check out manager-tools.com. The basics podcasts are invaluable to
keeping sanity as a manager.

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ahp
Eric Raymond, "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." On face, it's largely about FOSS
development; but, more so, it's about how one ought to go about thinking of
solutions to technical problems. A phenomenal read.

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robindoran
Getting Things Done - David Allen.

I read it when I had a team your size.

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dserodio
Managing Humans by Michael Lopp

[http://managinghumans.com/](http://managinghumans.com/)

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jrs235
The Deadline [http://amzn.to/1SW6Tgh](http://amzn.to/1SW6Tgh)

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jrs235
Also Peopleware [http://amzn.to/1TYIMio](http://amzn.to/1TYIMio) And Slack
[http://amzn.to/1CDfnj4](http://amzn.to/1CDfnj4)

Demarco is great!

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streblo
High Output Management by Andy Grove

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lsiebert
Dreaming in Code is work a read.

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kylebennett
Management 3.0 by Jurgen Appelo.

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MichaelCrawford
John Lakos, Large Scale C++ Software Design. Read it even if you dont do C++
as the most valuable parts apply to any language.

Anything by Watts Humphrey.

Elliot Aronson, The Social Animal

Eric Berne MD, Games People Play

