One of the things I find so valuable in conversations with people is a shared discourse and vocabulary. The best way I know of to cultivate that is through reading the same books.

Current Book(s)

Completed Book Reviews and Recommendations

  • The Delicate Art of Bureaucracy

    • I reread this several times because it took an embarrassingly long time for me to finish it. I always enjoyed it when I picked it up, so it worked out in my favor. I love Mark Schwarz's writing style and liberal arts references. For a quick overview, he has given several talks on the concepts he writes about including this one. I've also read other books he has written and have hosted a TechTalk by him as part of a tech talk program, so I'm definitely a fan. The book details the challenges associated with being suddenly thrust into a government IT leadership position from the private sector and Mark's approach to change the culture as the CIO of the DHS USCIS. My experience working with the government as well as my experience complying with government regulations in software development may have made it an even more enjoyable read, but it resonated with my experiences in both the private and public sectors. In short, inject chaos and observe, seek simplicity, and use the system and its rules to your advantage.

  • Accelerate

    • Accelerate is so much of a standard at this point that I don't know that anyone needs a review from me. It is, as a close work colleague stated, my work bible though. It was such a mind-blowing change to the way I was thinking about measuring improvement and success at the time that I have frequently revisited the original and future editions for information and inspiration. Each time I do, I bring new experience to my reading and glean something new. I have seen as many people abuse the ideas and metrics in Accelerate as I have seen people benefit from them; either way, the recommendations for improving an organization's performance and developer experience will always be worth re-introducing.

  • The Art of Business Value

    • This was the first book by Mark Schwartz that I read. He has such an uncanny way of asking very straightforward but simple questions that completely challenge how I think about any given subject. This book helped give me the necessary vocabulary to speak the language of my business counterparts in a way that allowed me to achieve goals that had been impossible up to that point. From addressing regulatory concerns to "the way we've always done it," just posing a simple question about value or the actual requirements made my interactions much easier.

  • The Pheonix Project
  • Predictably Irrational
  • The Unicorn Project
  • The Tyranny of Metrics
  • Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge

On My List

I should have read most of these already and many of them have been sitting on a shelf collecting dust for a while.

  • Sooner, Safer, Happier by Jonathan Smart
  • Inspired by Marty Cagan
  • Atomic Habits by James Clear
  • Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Frederick
  • Work Rules by Laszlo Bock
  • Measure What Matters by John Doerr
  • You Look Like a Thing and I Love You by Janelle Shane