HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Anything about leverage. Here are the ones I read that were helpful. The second two are engineering-specific, but Principles is domain agnostic.

* Principles: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/150...

* The Effective Engineer: https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Engineer-Engineering-Dispro...

* High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

⬐ cmonaghan

+100 to The Effective Engineer. This is the best practical book on how to improve individual engineering effectiveness that I've ever read.

Here's the list of books I've been recommending new managers and leaders read:

Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach https://www.amazon.com/Small-Unit-Leadership-Commonsense-App...

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable https://www.amazon.com/dp/0787960756/?coliid=I12MQNI6MIK6JR&...

High Output Management https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679762884/?coliid=I2G1Y1JLPP55SY&...

Measure What Matters https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525536221/?coliid=I1G6EQRC0QYPE1&...

Death by Meeting https://www.amazon.com/dp/0787968056/?coliid=I38A8AYMZGSLYZ&...

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455554790/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

The Hard Thing About Hard Things https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/B...

Start with Why (you can prob skip the book and just watch https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_insp...) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591846447/?coliid=I2Q0IN84LJ230W&...

Edit: Book is written by Andrew Grove who was a CEO of Intel

https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

Best book for management.

Also, we have platform where users can create collections from their favorite articles, videos etc.

Here's 2 different collection about Leadership

https://jooseph.com/modules/91

https://jooseph.com/modules/69

I like those collections but to be honest the book is must. Collections are just easy to access

Going from building code to building a team is different for different people, and some resources can help you in that transition should you choose to go through it.

Keith Rabois has an excellent lecture on that entitled "How to Operate"[^1] in "How to Start a Startup". He gets right into it in the first five seconds.

Ben Horowitz has a lecture in the same series: "How to Manage"[^2].

Andy Grove wrote a book entitled "High Output Management"[^3], that's also referenced in both videos. As a matter of fact, Ben Horowitz wrote the foreword of the newer edition of "High Output Management". The book is good.

[^1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fQHLK1aIBs

[^2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVhTvQXfibU

[^3]: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

Reading suggestion WRT to this approach:

https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

⬐ 1337biz

Can you elaborate a bit?

⬐ ellard

If I remember the section of that book correctly, Andrew Grove talks about how you want to handle decision making as a manager. According to Andrew, you want to have folks come to a decision with minimal intervention from you. Part of it is having people feel ownership, another is managing your own political capital. In terms of when you intervene, you should step in and help break ties. You should also be able to ultimately make a decision if the group is unable to do so either because they're taking way too long to deliberate, if their arguments are going full circle, etc.

⬐ fuzz4lyfe

If managers only exist to break ties why not simply create teams with odd numbers of members and they would no longer be required?

⬐ patman

Breaking ties is not only between equal numbers of people. It can be between one person with a very strong point of view and five others that oppose that decision.

Would recommend very highly:

(1) Andrew Grove's "High Output Management", it's easy to read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove... (2) Manager Tools "Basics" podcasts, especially on 1x1s and feedback: https://www.manager-tools.com/manager-tools-basics

There's a hell of a lot to learn outside of these things, but I think they're a good start.

⬐ 1337biz

Manager Tool podcasts are really incredibly good. Thanks for reminding me of them!

⬐ tbrock

I was recommended "High output management" and found it pretty bad. Some of the insight at the end was ok, but most of it was very boring and obvious.

⬐ howscrewedami

Got any books you'd recommend?

⬐ stumblers

Director here. My current favorite is Managing Humans, Michael Lopp: http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781484221570 Excellent reminder on everything I'm doing right and wrong.

Michael Lopp is a.k.a. Rands http://randsinrepose.com/archives/category/management

⬐ gtf21

As a very inexperienced manager (i.e. startup founder) I found some of the stuff quite helpful, which is doubtless obvious to the more experienced (although, in fairness, I also stopped reading about 3/4 of the way through, but my cofounder swears by it).

Flow https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-...

Antifragile https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-Ince...

High Output Management https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

The Master Switch https://www.amazon.com/Master-Switch-Rise-Information-Empire...

Thinking Fast and Slow https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp...

⬐ jamestimmins

Upvote for The Master Switch. It's one of the few books that manages to brilliantly cover a large territory within a small number of pages (<300).

Check out the classic Andy Grove "High Output Management" https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

And Google's work with OKRs is a good practical model to follow. Also, humans being human, I find that my programmers like using practices that Google follows/pioneered. If you start using OKRs milk that "we're gonna do what Google does" mantra as a way to get buy in. https://library.gv.com/how-google-sets-goals-okrs-a1f69b0b72...

Love the idea! Suggestion (I assume that the link is posted by the author or at least author will see this): include links to some some of the "required"/important reading/resources on the topic. It would be great to have materials that are confirmed to be good by the people that know what they're talking about. Maybe somebody here can suggest good resources about management are related topic for the aspiring/first-time CTOs? So far I've seen that this book is frequently recommended: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

⬐ jetsnoc

iyn,

Author here. Thanks! That's a great suggestion. As you can tell, right now the site and the mailing list is the most minimal of an implementation. We want to build a network, connect and mentor one another through the simplest and easiest mechanism possible - email. Once we have a medium-sized community with dozens of experts, we plan to add community managed content. Perhaps through a wiki?

I'll share the books and articles that have positively affected my career. These aren't tried and true and maybe dozens of people would disagree about their value but here they are, for what they are worth:

Management:

  - High output management (Grove, 1995)
  - Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win (Useem)
  - It’s your Ship  (Abrashoff)
  - The score takes care of itself  (Walsh)
  - The Hard Thing About Hard Things  (Horowitz)
  - Where good ideas come from  (Johnson)
  - Extreme Ownership (Navy Seals) — (Willink)
  - Work Rules — (Bock)
  - 5 Dysfunctions of a team — (Lencioni)
  - Give and Take (Grant)
  - This is what impactful Engineering leadership looks like - http://firstround.com/review/this-is-what-impactful-engineering-leadership-looks-like/
  - Notes on startup engineering management for young bloods - http://www.elidedbranches.com/2015/10/notes-on-startup-engineering-management.html?m=1

Engineering:

  - Continuous Integration: Improving Software Quality and Reducing Risk (Duval, Matyas, Glover, 2007)
  - Continuous Delivery: Release Software Releases through Build, Test and Deployment Automation (Humble, Farley, 2010)
  - Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd Edition (The XP Series) (Beck, Andres)
  - SICP: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
  - Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
  - Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
  - Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
  - Refactoring Databases - Evolutionary Database Design (Ambler, Sadalage, 2006)

⬐ arikr

Of those management books, which have been the most impactful ones if I'm looking to just grab 2-4 now?

⬐ rdoherty

Mythical Man-Month is widely considered the #1 software engineering management book out there. I'd buy that one before anything else.

⬐ jetsnoc

If I could only buy three books, it would be:

  - Peopleware
  - Mythical Man Month
  - High output management

⬐ olalonde

I highly recommend "The Phoenix Project" [0]. It's a great mix of entertainment and insight.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_Project_(novel)

⬐ angersock

Or The Mythical Man Month ( https://www.amazon.com/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineeri... )

Honestly I'm kinda surprised that didn't come up sooner...but only half-surprised.

⬐ loopbit

This one should be read (and understood) by anyone who fancies him/herself a manager.

I give these three books out to new managers in my org:

* High Output Management by Andy Grove https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884/

* Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591846404/

* The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591843472/

For interns I give out these two books:

* The Pragmatic Programmer https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Maste...

* The Passionate Programmer https://pragprog.com/book/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer

There's only one measure of management productivity and that's the output of their teams. The go-to book on this subject is High Output Management by Andy Grove [1]. It is hands down the best book on management. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is transitioning into a role where you'll be leading people.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

High Output Management by Andrew Grove [1].

Leadership requires good management of oneself, and this is an excellent book on management.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp...

One of the only books I've consistently recommended is High Output Management[1] by Andy Grove. His methods for dealing with complex interconnected problems was as brilliant as it was when he wrote it 30+ years ago.

1. http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp...

Grove's High Output Management is highly recommended. It's a masterpiece of management theory and practice.

http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp...

⬐ 50CNT

I just learned about it and Andy Grove a couple of days ago, which really puts the "oh, this person would be cool to talk to" and the "oh, that's not happening" awkwardly close.

But some view books as a receptacle of the authors mind, a time capsule that allows them to share thoughts with you even centuries after they have passed. Guess I'll have 2 more to look forward to.

⬐ mooreds

I am enjoying reading High Output Management as well. If you like that, you might enjoy this intro to the new version from Ben Horowitz:

http://www.bhorowitz.com/high-output-management

⬐ lmg643

I am in the middle of reading HPM, sad to hear. Andy Grove's writing has a lot of the same flavors of Paul Graham, but for a more corporate setting. The no-nonsense attitude towards meetings, and also understanding the challenges of decision making through meetings resonate with me.

⬐ klenwell

I was going through a difficult period at work last year and picked up High Output Management on the recommendation of a thread I came across somewhere here on HN. It didn't help save my job. But it did help me see what competent management looks like and helped me preserve a bit of my sanity.

One thing that struck me as emblematic of Grove's generous and effective management style is that nowhere in the book does he have a section addressing the difficult task of letting people go. I kept waiting for it. Instead, he focuses on the challenge of retaining talent stating that's the toughest job management confronts.

The book made me really wish I worked for an organization he was in charge of.

⬐ rdli

Ben Horowitz talks about letting people go in The Hard Things About Hard Things. Really a great book in its own right.

One of the Valley's founding fathers. May he rest in peace. If you haven't read it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884?keywords=high%20...