
Books for people in the software business - jirinovotny
http://www.dextronet.com/micro-isv-insights/2012/01/30-books-everyone-in-software-business-should-read-and-why/
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whamill
I'm surprised The Mythical Man-Month didn't make the 30 (only the afterthought
section). Given the harm that clumsy estimation, and naieve subdivision of
labour from disinterested managers causes to the software industry it should
be required reading.

~~~
nene
Maybe the author hasn't read it. He only included the ones he had read.

I'm more surprised that under the title "everyone should read" are three Joel
Spolsky books.

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akg
I started reading "Paypal Wars" ([http://www.amazon.com/PayPal-Wars-Battles-
Media-Planet/dp/09...](http://www.amazon.com/PayPal-Wars-Battles-Media-
Planet/dp/0974670103)) which is quite a fascinating read with lots of insight.

~~~
jirinovotny
Thanks Akash. I've added it to the list.

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HeyImAlex
Here's the old SO thread on the same topic, though I think this list might
amount to a more well rounded person.

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-
single-m...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-single-most-
influential-book-every-programmer-should-read)

~~~
jirinovotny
Yes, that's a good list as well. I actually went through that whole SO thread
and bought many of the books, but the SO thread is just for programmers. This
list is for people in software business in general, especially people in small
companies.

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smarterchild
Not that these are bad books (I've read a lot of them and they are quite
interesting), but I think there's more value in compiling a list of the _5_
most important books we should read, rather than the 30.

Of course we can learn _something_ from reading 30 books. It'd almost be hard
not to (if you chose the right genre). The problem is that, while
entertaining, I'm sure a lot of us are looking at these books not just for
fun, but because we want to figure out how to run our software business.

To take every software book that's imparted some little bit of insight and put
it in a huge list only gives you a huge list of books to read, with no
indication of which 20% of those books will give you 80% of the insight. And
while some of us can digest this list in two weeks, for others it's a huge
time commitment they don't have the ability to make.

I apologize for ranting, and this list does have some useful information
(especially in the commentary on each book). But I get uncomfortable when I
see a "Top X design articles" or "Top Y books" and the X or Y is >10\. I feel
like we are feeding our desire to gorge on numerically delimited information
without necessarily getting substance out of it.

~~~
brownegg
I don't agree. Giving 30 books vastly increases the chance that any given
reader can find the "right" 20%. Your 20% might not be mine; although I would
find it interesting if you posted your top 5 books, I'd rather see the 30 that
you read, so that I can read them all and find my own top 5.

My reaction tends to be opposite yours: when someone gives me the "top 5", I
consider it only a trailhead; it's unlikely my top 5 would be the same.

~~~
smarterchild
> when someone gives me the "top 5", I consider it only a trailhead; it's
> unlikely my top 5 would be the same.

That's a fair point. The important part, it seems, is identifying not just
which books to read but why. That information would help you and I find our
20%.

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nkassis
I did not see it on the list but Showstopper is an very good
book([http://www.amazon.com/Showstopper-Breakneck-Windows-
Generati...](http://www.amazon.com/Showstopper-Breakneck-Windows-Generation-
Microsoft/dp/0759285780/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327229009&sr=8-1)) It tells
the story of the Windows NT team's couple years of major ups and downs
developing the windows. It starts from the hiring of Dave Cutler from DEC to
the release of the project. If you want a good view into how large software
projects go I think you can't go wrong with this book. You get an idea for why
the Windows team made some tradeoff (like security ;p) made in those days to
finish the product and how a strong project leader was a must to keep the
project on track.

I can't recommend the book enough I've read it a few times already.

~~~
jirinovotny
Thanks! I've added it to the list. Looks like a hot candidate for a book that
I am going to read next.

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mrich
But please do not forget doing actual work and reflecting on it regularly :)

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mindcrime
I'd add _Business @ The Speed of Thought_ by Bill Gates. Yeah, yeah, go ahead
and laugh if you want.... It's a seriously interesting book. And this is
coming from a guy who's a huge F/OSS ideologue and who really isn't a fan of
Microsoft or billg. But I can give the Devil his due when necessary, and
B@TSOT is a worthwhile read.

Of course, you might ask "Why, mindcrime, why do you recommend a billg book so
highly?" Fair question... I find it interesting for the vision that Gates lays
out regarding how organizations should use technology to operate more
efficiently. He leaned heavily on the analogy with the human autonomic nervous
system back in those days, and was throwing around the term "Digital Nervous
System[1]" a lot... and I think that that concept A. makes and lot of sense,
and B. is _still_ \- after all these years - largely unfulfilled.

If you're in the business of software (at least the business of _business
software_ ) I think the Gates book is still very inspirational and could seed
some very interesting ideas, vis-a-vis technology in organizations.

[1]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Nervous_System>

Other than that, my own list would include:

 _The Art of the Start_ \- Guy Kawasaki

 _The Four Steps to the Epiphany_ \- Steve Blank

 _The Lean Startup_ \- Eric Ries

 _Blue Ocean Strategy_ \- W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

 _Crossing the Chasm_ \- Geoffrey Moore

 _The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing_ \- Al Ries & Jack Trout

 _Positioning_ \- Al Ries & Jack Trout

 _Repositioning_ \- Jack Trout (with Steve Rivkin)

 _Differentiate or Die_ \- Jack Trout (with Steve Rivkin)

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calibraxis
I knew a programmer on the Chandler team. When I read the wiki and tried it
out, I remember thinking, "This is Mitch's doomed vanity project." (Of course
I had the usual doubts on whether I understood what was going on, but simply I
couldn't see it living up to its hype.)

I haven't yet read the book on it (_Dreaming in Code_), but the question in my
mind wasn't how it failed, but how it couldn't fail...

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daemianmack
I just finished _Dreaming in Code_ Friday night. A deep dive into
<http://chandlerproject.org/> afterward was one of the more depressing
experiences I've had in recent memory: all that effort, abandoned.

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lrobb
Unfortunately I succumbed to several dozen of these mass business books before
realizing how utterly insipid this industry is... Just learn to write a
business plan and get busy already. Great free articles (& some paid) on both
hbr.org and score.org.

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djcb
"Outliers"? Malcolm Gladwell is an entertaining writer, but I really wouldn't
take it too serious... extrapolating way too much, and then reaching faux-
unexpected conclusions that resonate nicely with what people like to believe.

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zobzu
just 30.

