Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister , Peopleware, Dorset House, 1999; ISBN 0932633439.
Following The Psychology of Computer Programming, this book expanded the practical dialog about programs as written by people, and in particular as written by teams of people. This book was my source for the principle of "accepted responsibility."
Tom DeMarco , Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency, Broadway, 2002; ISBN 0767907698.
Applying the concept of margins to software development.
Carlo d'Este , Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome, Harper-Collins, 1991; ISBN 006092148X.
An example of ego getting in the way of clear thinking.
Robert Kanigel , The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency, Penguin, 1999; ISBN 0140260803.
A biography of Taylor that puts his work into a context that helps show the limits of his thinking.
Gary Klein , Sources of Power, MIT Press, 1999; ISBN 0262611465.
A simple, readable text on how experienced people make decisions in difficult situations.
Alfie Kohn , Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes, Mariner Books, 1999; ISBN 0618001816.
This book shook my illusion that I could control other people by giving them just the right kind of reward.
Thomas Kuhn , The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, 1996; ISBN 0226458083.
How paradigms become the dominant paradigm. Paradigm shifts have predictable effects.
Patrick Lencioni , The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, Jossey-Bass, 2002; ISBN 0787960756.
An easy-to-read description of some of the things that can go wrong on teams and what you can do about it.
Scott McCloud , Understanding Comics, Harper Perennial, 1994; ISBN 006097625X.
The last couple of chapters talk about why people write comics. This made me think about why I write programs. There is also good material about the connection between the craft of comics and the art of comics, with parallels to the craft of writing programs (testing, refactoring) and the art of writing programs. There is also good material for user-interface designers about communicating with the spaces between things, and packing information into small spaces without clutter.
Geoffrey A. Moore , Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, HarperBusiness, 1999; ISBN 0066620023.
Paradigm shifts from a business perspective. Some of the barriers to the acceptance of new ideas are predictable and have simple strategies to address them.
Marshall Rosenberg and Lucy Leu , Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values, PuddleDancer Press, 2003; ISBN 1892005034.
Nonviolent communication aims to help people separate observation from judgement, hear the deeper needs expressed and state their own needs clearly.
Frederick Winslow Taylor , The Principles of Scientific Management, 2nd ed., Institute of Industrial Engineers, 1998 (1st ed. 1911); ISBN 0898061822.
This is the book that spawned "Taylorism." Specialization and strict divide-and-conquer served to produce more cars cheaper. These principles make no sense as strategies for software development: no business sense and no human sense.
Barbara Tuchman , Practicing History, Ballantine Books, 1991; ISBN 0345303636.
A thoughtful historian thinks about how she does history. Like Understanding Comics, this book is good for reflecting on why you do what you do.
Colin M. Turnbull , The Forest People: A Study of the Pygmies of the Congo, Simon & Schuster, 1961; ISBN 0671640992.
A society with plentiful resources has a mentality of sufficiency, which leads to mutually beneficial relationships and abundant living.
, The Mountain People, Simon & Schuster, 1972; ISBN 0671640984.
A society with scarce resources. A model of scarcity leads to horrific consequences.
Mary Walton and W. Edwards Deming , The Deming Management Method, Perigee, 1988; ISBN 0399550011.
Deming explicitly addresses fear as a barrier to performance. Most readings of Deming focus on statistical quality-control methods, but there is much here about the effects of human emotion.
Gerald Weinberg , Quality Software Management: Volume 3, Congruent Action, Dorset House, 1994; ISBN 0932633285.
When you say one thing and do another, bad things happen. This book talks about how to be congruent yourself, how to recognize incongruencies in others, and what to do about it.
, The Psychology of Computer Programming, Dorset House, 1998; ISBN 0932633420.
First to recognize that programs are written by and for people.
, The Secrets of Consulting, Dorset House, 1986; ISBN 0932633013.
Strategies for introducing change.