Appendix
In this section, I share resources I found formative for my leadership career.
Books
The following list of books had a high impact on my leadership style. As you may notice, there are no books from the "engineering management" category. I think you probably come across these books anyway.
The checklist manifesto
If you are reading this after you've read the whole book, you already know I love checklists. I considered having a section about it in Process but decided against it. I can't make a better job than this short, exquisite book.
I often say "checklists are unit tests for your processes". The inspiration for the quote comes from this book. It often amazes me how a small checklist can positively impact team work. The book makes a compelling argument for using checklists everywhere.
The inmates are running the asylum
I didn't want to read a book with such a strange title, but I'm glad I got past it and decided to read it anyway.
Fair warning: the first part of the book is really harsh on developers. The wording is strong and the content isn't good for your ego. But the perspective is eye opening. It made me much more sympathetic to how product managers see work. Leading developers often means having a closer relationship with product management, so this book can help you widen your perspective.
The goal
Most of "my version of Kanban" ideas come from this book. It's written in an interesting style; Camille Fournier calls it "business erotica" and I think it's perfect.
The book is a page turner. It radically improved my understanding of flow production and queuing theory. It helped me improve significantly the way I approach the product development value stream.
Podcasts
I have a strange relationship with podcasts as a media. I can listen to tons of podcasts every week for a few months in a row. But then, without any apparent explanation, I can't stand the media. I'm not sure why this is.
If I had to recommend only one podcast, it would be Greater than code. The conversations on this podcast are sometimes so deep that you could write a book about them.
I also like to listen to CodeNewbie. The topics are really varied and always interesting.
Blogs
Here's a list of blogs, in no particular order, that I love. One way or the other, these writers made me a better leader:
You may have noticed this list doesn't contain a single man. I really wanted to add at least one, for diversity's sake, but why would I lower the quality of my recommendations?