The Goal

Whilst not strictly non-fiction, I'm going with The Goal bg Eli Goldratt. It's a novel about accounting. Specifically, Goldratt's Theory of Constraints. It presents the idea that manufacturing accounting is wrong.

I really enjoyed that book and how it attempts to simplify the nature of common supply chain constraints. You probably know this already, but if not: Eli Goldratt (the guy that wrote that book) wrote an equally brilliant academic paper on the same subject - I think the title was ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’. Just passing it on in the event you’re looking for a good follow-up read.

+1 for "The Goal" - This book is so timeless!

The audiobook version of The Goal is the best audiobook I have listened to! Each character is voiced by someone else, which sometimes doesn’t work well for audiobooks, but in this case I think they knocked it out of the park. The main voice actor in particular is phenomenal. I have tried to figure out who voiced Alex, but all credits for the audiobook simply say “ensemble cast” or “unknown”.

A few books that I've found useful: The Goal - Eli Goldratt - It is a novel about optimizing a factory, but it is immensely valuable in thinking through what are the actual constraints on your team's ability to deliver software and how do you fix it without making other things worse. The Phoenix Project is kind of a modern retelling, but I'd start with The Goal. The Principles of Product Development Flow - Reinersten - Great for thinking deeply about how you deliver value through your system and the tradeoffs you are making in what you choose to focus on next. Once again it isn't specific to software, but very relevant. The 5 Dysfunctions of Teams - Lencioni - Common team problems and what to do instead. Influence: Science and Practice - Cialdini - How to get people into agreement so you can move forward--a skill that can be used for both good and evil.…

Probably "The Goal". After reading "the Phoenix project" a couple of years ago a good deal of it was predictable but that doesn't prevent it from being very interesting. (To be completely honest I listened to it instead of reading it myself, but I still think it counts.) Another interesting audiobook is "The Minuteman" maybe only available through Audible. It is a story of part of the fight against nazism in America. Only annoying thing about it is the author at a couple of places tries to equate that fight with todays antifa, which leaves a rather sour taste there and then but is forgotten a minute or to later because the book is otherwise really interesting and I enjoy stories of nazis getting punched and otherwise punished and people getting away with it.

> What are you reading and why? Audiobooks are a special case for me. They help fill the time when I'm driving to work, mowing the lawn or doing dishes. If I consume my entertainment during these productive times, I find I'm less drawn to television and other mindless distractions. They also help me to be motivated to do tasks that I otherwise find dull. The better alternative is to find a friend to share these tasks with, but that is not always a practical option. While I do read for entertainment, I really enjoy non-fiction as long as it's light. If I want to explore a topic and truly learn something, I often need to find a text version. That said, I have found some great audiobooks that I have learnt from: -The Goal -Pragmatic Programmer -Designing Data-Intensive Applications -Thinking Fast and Slow -Ultralearning The best entertainment so far have been -Dune -The Expanse series -The Bobiverse series -The Expeditionary force series.…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_%28novel%29 Not so technical but it's interesting and engaging.

Read Eliyahu Goldratt's books, these are novels that explain business ideas - but hardly can be called tech books.

I read Phoenix Project first and then The Goal. I enjoyed both and I think that's the best order.

I agree, totally worth reading, but when I read it in grad school I found it exceedingly dry. kinda had to choke it down. Certainly worth it and I'll probably listen to the Audible recording for a refresher when I need another book

Having recently listened to The Goal on Audible, it may be worth noting that it has multiple voice actors as well as ambient background sounds. Definitely adds some color to an already impressive novel.

The Goal Novel by Eliyahu M. Goldratt A business fiction book that describes "The Theory of Constraints" a process initially applied in manufacturing that deals with optimizing production line systems. I found the sections on identifying a bottle neck in a system, focusing on optimizing the system around this point and re-evaluating system performance afterwards very applicable to software engineering. Everything from CICD pipelines, the flow of work through your team to or performance optimizing a service oriented architecture. Very much a fore father to books like Phoenix Project mentioned by others here.

When managing people in tech, I think it is equally as important to know how to organize as it is to know how to lead. I would recommend "The Phoenix Project" and "The Unicorn Project" and "The Goal" to all tech managers. No matter how good your communication/leadership skills are, your team will be severely handicapped if they are working in an inefficient/limiting environment. Coming at the same lessons from a different perspective, I have also found "Turn The Ship Around!" to be a very good resource.

If you've read The Phoenix Project (or haven't yet) I also recommend The Goal. Also a novel, but I think it does a better job of explaining the Theory of Constraints. The Phoenix Project worked better (for me) after reading The Goal, it connects ToC to IT work, but I don't think worked as a good introduction on its own.

"The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt, and other of his books are great books to learn how to think. It is a more concrete example of Systems Thinking that is applied to various environments, manufacturing in "The Goal", marketing and strategy in "It's Not Luck", projects in "Critical Chain", retail in "Isn't it Obvious", and personal improvement in "The Choice".

"The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt, while set in a traditional manufacturing world, does a great job in clarifying the role of constraints in any team effort. It's written in the form of a novel. It is not perfect. I think it hase some sexist undertones, is generally just super-eighties and kind of self serving as a novel. But it has definitely changed the way I think about business in a deep way.

"The Goal" - Started my interest in Lean principles, along with how to apply them to programming - imagining my programs as little data "factories", that need to be made efficient and efficiently. "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World" - Taught me I don't need to follow the standard path that "everyone else does", and to focus on how I can actively change my world - instead of waiting for someone else to to change it for me. "Code Complete" - Get it. Read it. Live it.

I was going to add, "The Goal". I just received two more copies of it from Amazon today. I've given away more copies of that book that I can count (and will give away another one to a co-worker on Monday).

The Goal. If you're interested in project management, Making Things Happen is good. I've just started High Output Management and so far it seems good. Of course there are always the classics like Good to Great, What Color Is Your Parachute, etc

The goal. I was really surprised by the number of new insights I had, even after reading the Phoenix project multiple times.

The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt. It's a great book on manufacturing clothed in a fictional story.

I will definitely second Atul Gawande's Checklist Manifesto. Eliyahu Goldratt's books (I have read Critical Chain and It's Not Luck as well as The Goal) are not as original as often claimed. They are very readable introductions, but a good project management text will cover most of what they do and more. The project management book that I have found most helpful is Project Management With Cpm, Pert and Precedence Diagramming; despite its age (1983) it covers a wider variety of techniques with more detail and less extraneous crud than any of the others I have seen (note I am still researching this area, anyone who has a favorite book can leave it in a comment). http://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Pert-Precedence-Dia... (http://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Pert-Precedence-Diagramming/dp/0442254156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322244392&sr=8-1) Jonathan Baron's Thinking and Deciding is one of the best books on improving your thinking in general that I have ever read. http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Deciding-Jonathan-Baron/dp/05... (http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Deciding-Jonathan-Baron/dp/0521680433/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322244137&sr=8-1)

The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt is pretty good. It is a business fiction book, so although it is not about startups, it applies well to start ups. http://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/08... (http://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0884270610) The book explains Theory of Constraints(TOC) in a novel. TOC is basically similar to profiling software, but instead of software, you profile a business. Find the bottlenecks in the system and work on them. Improving other things has very low return, and usually just waste of time. Improving bottlenecks improves the throughput of the whole system. Here are my other recommended business fiction books: http://atank.interlogy.com/blog/?p=15

I really enjoyed "The Goal" as an audiobook. It makes a good audiobook because it's structured as a novel. Definitely one of my favorite business books. (it's nominally about running a manufacturing plant, but I think a lot of the takeaways apply just as well to startups)

Free 10-day Buddhist meditation retreats, incl. room & board, at one of the many Vipassana Meditation Centers world-wide (http://www.dhamma.org). Very old-school; the real deal. The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0884270610). Most real-world systems have a single constraint that limit the system's ability to achieve goal units. The best way to improve the system is to (0) define the system's owners and their goal for the system, (1) identify the constraint (2) improve the situation at the constraint in a way that does not require significant investment; (3) if the improvement resulting from the previous is not sufficient, decide how to improve the constraint in a way that does require significant investment; (4) subordinate everything else in the system to the decision arrived at in the previous step; (5) start over at step 1. The Game, by Neil Strauss (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060554738)