Books

I’ve always believed that fast feedback and small steps are what make teams good at building software. This book explains why. Farley argues that we should treat software development as a process of learning: work iteratively, build in small increments, keep the feedback loops short, and run experiments instead of guessing. The second half ties modularity, cohesion, coupling and testability into one coherent model for managing complexity.

In the age of AI, this matters more than ever. Writing code is getting cheap, but knowing whether it’s correct and keeping a system changeable isn’t. When an assistant can produce hundreds of lines in seconds, test-driven development, fast feedback and well-separated modules are what keep you in control. Writing the test first forces you to state what the code should do before anyone, human or machine, writes it. The fundamentals in this book are exactly the skills that don’t get automated away. I can highly recommend it.

Already a classic. Explains to a very detailed level how to design data intensive systems. This has the potential to bring you from zero to hero.

This was recently re-released. The old version was the most important programming book I’ve ever read. Picked up many good ideas and insights on how to improve as a programmer.

I care a lot about diversity. This book helped me pick up some inspiration and concrete action items to be more inclusive.

THE book about motivation. The author names the three elements Purpose, Autonomy and Mastery as the key for great motivation.

This book could be much shorter, but still contains some very powerful and valuable concepts.

If you feel that something is not right in your team, you might take a look at this one.

Do you wonder how to improve your communication skills? Don’t look further. This can help you navigate in critical and hard conversations. If you want to read one book about soft skills, this is it!

While it’s mostly aimed at team leaders, one can get many things out of it. Most prominent is giving honest feedback. There are many other good ideas in this book, I can highly recommend it.

Is teaching others part of your job? It explains nicely how you can teach by asking certain questions.