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.
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.
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 📘
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. If you are comfortable with your tech skills, I would recommend diving into the soft skills section. If you are more confident in your soft skills, then I would recommend picking out some books in the tech skills section.
Part I: Soft Skills
- Management
- Leadership
- People
- Culture
- Change Management
- Agile Methodologies
- Communication
- Public Speaking
- Onboarding
Part II: Tech Skills
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 📘
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 📘
Radical Candor by Kim Scott 📘 🎧
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier 📘 🎧
Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister 📘
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 📘 🎧
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 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, Renée A. Mauborgne 📘 🎧
Scrum by Jeff Sutherland and JJ Sutherland 📘 🎧
Essential Scrum by Kenneth S. Rubin 📘
Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, and Ken Schwaber 📘
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg PhD 📘 🎧
Presence by Amy Cutty 📘 🎧
Humble Inquiry by Edgar H. Schein 📘 🎧
Demystifying Public Speaking by Lara Hogan 📘
First 90 Days by Harvard Business Review Press 📘 🎧
Clean Code by Robert C. Martin 📘
The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas 📘
The Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau 📘
Rapid Development by Steve McConnell 📘
Software Estimation by Steve McConnell 📘
Software Project Survival Guide by Steve McConnell 📘
Code Complete by Steve McConnell 📘
Domain-Driven Design by Eric Evans 📘
Refactor by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, Don Roberts, and Erich Gamma 📘
The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. 📘
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman, and Julie Sussman 📘
Continuous Delivery by Jez Humble and David Farley 📘
Continuous Integration by Paul M. Duvall, Steve Matyas, and Andrew Glover 📘
Test Driven Development by Kent Beck 📘
DevOps Handbook by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis and Jez Humble 📘 🎧
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford 📘 🎧