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Ask HN: What books should I read as a software manager?

30 points by mmelih ↗ HN
I am currently working as the head of an IT team consisting of developers, testers, product managers in a startup. I was one of the 2 developers in the same company a year ago and now our team has more than 10 people. So I have little experience as a manager and I want to improve myself.

Which books do you suggest?

21 comments

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MichaelCrawford
John Lakos, Large Scale C++ Software Design. Read it even if you dont do C++ as the most valuable parts apply to any language.

Anything by Watts Humphrey.

Elliot Aronson, The Social Animal

Eric Berne MD, Games People Play

loumf
Peopleware by DeMarco and Lister
frostmatthew
The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks
mjstahl
I would also recommend the follow-up book entitled "The Design of Design" also by Frederick Brooks
streblo
High Output Management by Andy Grove
robindoran
Getting Things Done - David Allen.

I read it when I had a team your size.

ahp
Eric Raymond, "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." On face, it's largely about FOSS development; but, more so, it's about how one ought to go about thinking of solutions to technical problems. A phenomenal read.
GeoffreyP
Also check out manager-tools.com. The basics podcasts are invaluable to keeping sanity as a manager.
lsiebert
Dreaming in Code is work a read.
thewileyone
The One Minute Manager ... this is the first book I read when I became a manager and something I read again from time to time. It's simple and quick and gives you a basic framework to rely on.
gadders
How to Win Friends and Influence People.

You will only advance as a manager by working through people, and this gives you a good framework for developing rapport.

SeanKilleen
These recommendations are great, but I'll add one I haven't seen here yet: "Notes to a Software Team Leader" by Roy Osherove. I think it's a great read on how to empower your teams to succeed on their own. And it's written from the perspective that is likely to be shared (at least in part) by your dev leads, so it'll likely have helpful insight in that way as well.