A collection of past reads and listens that have shaped my thinking — books and podcasts I’ve moved on from but still recommend.

Books

• The Generous Leader by Joe Davis — 7 Ways to Give of Yourself for Everyone’s Gain

  

Engineering Craft

Curated in Awesome Engineering.

• Clean Code by ‘Uncle’ Bob Martin — Writing code for the reader, not the writer. SOLID and clean-code foundations (Java-centric)

  

• The Pragmatic Programmer by Andy Hunt & David Thomas — Owning your craft through small, continuous improvement — “kaizen” for engineers

  

• Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by the Gang of Four — A common language for system design. Don’t reinvent the wheel

  

• Data Structures and Algorithms by Michael T. Goodrich — The recipes and building blocks — know which to reach for and when

  

• Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael C. Feathers — Oldie but a goodie. Cover and Modify over Edit and Pray

  

Architecture

• Building Microservices by Sam Newman — Modelling, integrating, testing and operating autonomous services — while recognising microservices aren’t the answer to everything

  

Leadership & Management

Curated in Awesome Engineering, Management.

• The Manager’s Path by Camille Fournier — The route from engineer to leader; hands-on expertise as credibility

  

• The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo — What great managers actually do — in the first year and after

  

• Start with Why by Simon Sinek — Purpose before product. Hire motivated people and inspire them

  

• Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek — Trust is extended before it is earned

  

• How to Work with (Almost) Anyone by Michael Bungay Stanier — Engineering is a team sport — building the best possible working relationships (print > audiobook)

  

• Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves — Your IQ only gets you so far; relationships count

  

Product

• Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan — Discovery before execution; define the smallest product that meets the goal

  

• Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products by Marty Cagan & Chris Jones — Ordinary people, inspired and empowered — and beware shipping your org chart

  

Habits & Learning

• Atomic Habits by James Clear — Cue, craving, response, reward. Small changes compounding into large rewards

  

Still on the shelf

Designing Data-Intensive Applications also appears in Awesome Engineering but remains in rotation, so it lives on The Shelf rather than here.