Modern Books for Software Engineering Managers

The page lists recent books the author considers practical for software engineering managers or similar roles that mix technical work and people management. It favors books that are current, readable, and based on books the author says they read from cover to cover and tried to apply in practice.

Reading notes

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• It prioritizes recent and practical books for anyone working as a software engineering manager or in similar roles.
• It argues for starting with more up-to-date works, because the industry changes quickly and time for study is limited.
• It says the author read all the books mentioned to the end and tried to apply the advice at work.
• Among the most complete books, it highlights Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager and The Manager’s Path.
• Debugging Teams is presented as short, easy to read, and useful for team productivity, with a focus on humility, respect, and trust.
• The Manager’s Path is described as a broad, practical guide and useful as a manual, from tech lead to CTO.
• Managing Humans is recommended for those who already have some management experience and want reports and familiar day-to-day situations.
• Leading Effective Engineering Teams brings together instructions in list style and revisits ideas from Project Oxygen and Project Aristotle.
• Radical Candor is treated as a useful book for more experienced managers who want to improve their management and retention skills.
• No Rules Rules is presented as the most radical book on the list, with Netflix practices and the Keeper Test.
• Engineering Management for the Rest of Us is pointed to as a short introduction for those who came from engineering without prior management training.
• An Elegant Puzzle is recommended especially for managers of managers and for problems such as team size and choosing project leads.
• The Missing README is suggested for managers because it helps with onboarding new team members and saves time on repeated instructions.
• At the end, the text says that reading does not replace doing, but knowledge helps make better decisions in difficult situations.