Books Read

Fish!

Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul & John Christensen; ISBN 978-0786866021

Nice story about the role attitude plays in culture with some ideas of how to change it for the better.

Lots of learnings for Supportive Culture, Self-Improvement and Collaboration pillars.

Rework

Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson; ISBN 978-0307463746

Really easy read from the guys who created Ruby on Rails. Compendium of pragmatic dos and don'ts.

Lots of learnings for Supportive Culture, Self-Improvement and Collaboration pillars.

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Dan Pink; ISBN 978-0143145080

Fascinating insight into what motivates people to do stuff, and how the practice in most businesses is at odds with the science. Key concepts are covered in this video.

Lots of learnings for Supportive Culture, Self-Improvement and Collaboration pillars.

Switch: How to change things when change is hard

Chip Heath & Dan Heath; ISBN 978-0397357274

Very interesting ideas about how to lead and facilitate change.

Lots of learnings for Supportive Culture, Self-Improvement and Collaboration pillars.

The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the future of your organization and your life

Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan; ISBN 978-0470195598

Lots of good stuff on how to use language for the best results.

Lots of learnings for Supportive Culture, Self-Improvement and Collaboration pillars.

Cultures and Organizations Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival

Geert Hofstede and Gert Jan Hofstede; ISBN 978-0071439595

I found this book both fascinating and disturbing. Subsequently I've used this information many times to better understand peoples attitudes and behaviors.

Lots of learnings for Supportive Culture, Self-Improvement and Collaboration pillars.

Agile Estimating and Planning

Mike Cohn; ISBN 978-0131479418

Everyone writing stories needs to read this.

Lots of Learnings for the Business Value pillar.

Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software

Eric Evans; ISBN 978-0321125217

I read this book from cover to cover and then reread some sections again and again. I fundamentally believe in the benefits of domain models but I'm still not sure about everything here. Would love to have the time and opportunity to try a full blown implementation.

Lots of learnings for Technical Excellence and Confidence pillars.

Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#

Robert C. Martin;ISBN 978-0131857254

Great reference book. Should be every C# developer's desk.

Lots of learnings for Technical Excellence pillar.

Clean Code, A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

Dean Wampler, Robert C. Martin; ISBN 978-0132350884

I find Uncle Bob's books and articles make lots of sense for me. I think every developer should read this.

Lots of learnings for Technical Excellence pillar.

Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture

Martin Fowler;ISBN 978-0321127426

Whenever architecture questions come up the patterns in this book are mentioned. Critical reading to anyone making the bigger design decisions.

Test-Driven Development in Microsoft.Net

James W. Newkirk, Alexei A. Vorontsov; ISBN 978-0735619487

I didn't get as much out of this as I had hoped and haven't felt the need to reread.

Extreme Programming Adventures in C#

Ron Jeffries; ISBN 978-0735619494

This was an interesting read and illustrates that even the most experienced programmers get things wrong from time to time. I suspect that the value gained from this book will differ widely from person to person.

Some learnings for Technical Excellence pillar.

Object Thinking

David West; ISBN 978-0735619654

I loved this book. It really helped me to think differently about objects. Makes a good case at presenting a philosophical basis for object-orientation.

Some learnings for Technical Excellence pillar.

Extreme Programming Installed

Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, Chet Hendrickson; ISBN 978-0201708424

The only book that I know of with my name in it. Not sure why.

The XP manual.

Extreme Programming Explained

Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres; ISBN 978-0321278654

The XP book. Nuff said. Must be read by all.

Lots of learnings for lots of pillars.

Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code

Martin Fowler, Kent Beck; ISBN 978-0201485677

Key reference book. Must be read. Not an option.

Fundamentals of Object-Orientated Design in UML

Meilir Page-Jones; ISBN 978-0201699463

This book was fundamental to my thinking about objects and object-orientation. I came across lots of terms for the first time and it really made me rethink a lot of assumptions I'd made.

Lots of learnings for Technical Excellence pillar.

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object Orientated Software

Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides; ISBN 978-0201633610

This book got me interested in patterns. It is now a fundamental part of my language when I talk about code. I still refer to it. Every developer should keep a copy on their desk.