I am sometimes asked which books I would recommend reading. For the blog, this is generally not difficult — it’s enough to open all posts with the tag “I-recommend.” But since it’s been almost five years now since I revived my blog and began writing about the books I’ve read, I decided to put together a selection of non-fiction books I’ve read during this time that fall into the category of “you must read them.”
I have already written detailed reviews of all these books, so this time I’ve selected only the very best, grouped them by topic. For each book I give only brief recommendations on why they are worth reading, but you can always open the link to the full review. I hope this will be useful to someone. So, let’s begin.
Strategy, Company Culture, and Team Building
- Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. I have read this book twice and sometimes go back to my notes and reread individual chapters. The book is very helpful in distinguishing strategic goals from useless slogans and daily tasks. As I have written before, it’s not guaranteed that you will be able to build good strategies. But after reading this book, you will definitely be able to spot bad ones.
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. This author is both praised and criticized by many. But Lencioni managed to popularize the presentation of business ideas through a kind of “business novel.” Almost all of his books are worth reading, but I personally highlight The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, since in it he explains very clearly the main mistakes in building a top management team, as well as which qualities are fundamental. I have also read this book twice, and afterward I often apply its conclusions as a kind of “litmus test” to every team I work with.
- Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. This book explains why it is so important to think first about your team, and only then about yourself. How this affects building culture, relationships, the view of the future, and the ability to endure hard times. I have recommended and still recommend this book to absolutely everyone, not just leaders.
Attitude to Life
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. I really like how simply Mark Manson writes about things that are difficult and sometimes painful for our ego. This particular book made the author very famous, because many of us (especially in the midst of a midlife crisis) start digging into ourselves and suffer from thoughts like “I’m NN years old, and I haven’t achieved anything.” Mark Manson shows that life should be looked at more simply. People who don’t sweat the small stuff live better and more successfully — or at the very least, they don’t suffer from their lack of success.
IT as Culture
- Pirate Nation by Darren Todd. This is an excellent study on the topic of copyright — who benefits from it, and why in the age of the World Wide Web this concept has outlived itself. For some reason, the book disappeared from sale a couple of years after publication and has never been reissued — neither in Russian nor in the original. But I managed to buy it, so I can reread it from time to time. And I recommend it to everyone who can find it (whether in print or in an electronic version, as I have).
Agile Practices
- Kanban and Scrum — Making the Most of Both by Henrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarin. Probably one of the most useful books on Kanban and Scrum practices. No fluff, only practical examples. A true desktop reference. And on top of that, it’s available for free in electronic form.
- Agile Retrospectives Kickstarter by Alexey Krivitsky. Retrospectives are one of the most well-known Agile practices (after stand-ups, probably). Yet very often companies run them in a completely inept way, with no benefit at all. The author, in the form of a short guide, explains why retrospectives are needed and how they can be run quickly and effectively. In Russian, it is also available for free (and not for free in English).
- Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen. This is the book from which Alexey Krivitsky (the author of the book above) drew a huge number of ideas and approaches. If Alexey’s book is a short guide, this one is a somewhat more detailed description of the ideology. The books complement each other perfectly.
GameDev
- Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers. Even if you never intend to be a game designer but plan to work (or already work) in the video game industry, this book is simply a must-read. It’s a fun and very detailed journey, with a huge number of the author’s own illustrations, about how a good game designer thinks and works. By the way, the book is on the publisher Bombora’s schedule for this year, so it will finally appear in Russian as well.
- Game as a Business by Alexey Savchenko. This is also a kind of step-by-step guide, but this time about how to make your game — not just try, but actually make it and release it. What needs to be taken into account, what must not be forgotten. Many chapters can be used as a checklist, checking whether you have missed anything important at each stage.
Recruiting
- To Hire or Not to Hire? Or How to Interview a Developer by Konstantin Borisov. This is honestly one of the best management books I’ve read in recent years. It is devoted to how to properly conduct interviews — both with candidates and with employees. And it’s by no means limited to the IT field. Simply an excellent book!
Management
- How a Good Developer Can Avoid Becoming a Bad Manager by the same Konstantin Borisov. Most managers (at least in my field) are not born leaders but start out in completely different roles. And not everyone is able to switch over and realize that these two roles require very different skills and approaches to work. This book helps you understand how to make that “leap” more easily. Also one of the few books that I gave a 5 — and I am very picky.
- The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard, William Oncken Jr., and Hal Burrows. A rather amusing approach to teaching yourself how to delegate tasks. The metaphor of “monkeys on your back” really helps in work, and this “picture” makes it much easier to remember the book’s ideas. And the book itself is short (which is unusual for American books — they usually like to pad things out).
- The Jedi Way by Max Dorofeev. Many people know Max and his productivity-boosting methods. The Jedi Way is a rethinking of his earlier book Jedi Techniques. To me, the second book turned out to be more coherent and useful than the first. Though the first, with its comics about an irrational little monkey, was fun as well. Max has a talent for telling things in an easy and engaging way. But his work is more a collection of different methods. That’s both the book’s plus and minus. Still, it’s definitely worth reading.
Working with Data, Analytics
- How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. This is already a classic work from as far back as the 1950s, but it is worth reading before doing anything at all with data. Because Darrell Huff shows what to pay attention to when reading any statistical information, and how to approach its interpretation critically.
- The Numbers Game by Vasiliy Sabirov. One of the best books on game analytics, based on Vasiliy’s own course, which he originally created on devtodev.com while working there as lead analyst. Simply essential reading if you work as a product manager or analyst.
- Charts That Persuade Everyone by Alexander Bogachev. While Vasiliy Sabirov only briefly touches on the topic of data visualization in his book, Alexander Bogachev devoted years of his work to it, and therefore wrote a separate book on how to present data correctly if you want to convey your idea as clearly as possible.
- Ctrl+Shift+Enter: Mastering Excel Array Formulas by Mike Girvin. This is a book for true Excel geeks. If you constantly process data in this application and want to get the most out of working with large datasets, this book is for you.
- This Button Needs Text by Kirill Yegorov. This book is not exactly about data — it’s more about UX/UI — but I included it in this section because ultimately UX is about communicating information correctly to the user, that is, about being as concise and as clear as possible. Which is extremely important in IT (but often not taken seriously).
Investments
- Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. Many people dream of getting a lot of money from investors for their startup idea. But at the same time, they often understand little about how to do it, as well as what pitfalls await them when dealing with potential investors — and how easy it is to “give away” their business for next to nothing if they don’t know the subject. This book explains very clearly what venture deals are, what is worth fighting for, and what is not. It was also published in Russian, but for some reason has not been reissued.
Cultural Differences
- The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. The very best book about cultural differences and how they help or hinder us in doing business, settling into a new place, and simply communicating. I have recommended, I recommend, and I will keep on recommending it!
- What Mean?: Where Russians Go Wrong In English by Lynn Visson. A book about how Russian speakers misuse the English language, basing it on their previous experience and, oddly enough, on cultural differences.
That’s all for now. But I am sure that next time I will have more new books to recommend — including my own, which I will finally finish writing 😉
