I’ve read some cracking books over the last 12 months. Some of them have literally changed my life. So, in case you’re looking for a good read this Christmas or struggling to decide what to buy the PO in your life, here are a few recommendations from me and my friends.
My top 5
Out of the stack of books that I read this year, here are my top five:
“Inspiring”
Steve Bull’s The Game Plan: Your Guide to Mental Toughness at Work
was an eye-opener. As mentioned in a recent post, Steve Bull is a coaching psychologist who worked with the Ashes-winning England cricket team and many other athletes. He has taken some of the tools he used in sport and transferred them to help businesses. It probably had the biggest impact of all books I read this year.
“Fascinating and educational”
I wrote a review of Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise: The Art and Science of Prediction
back in July. It is a meaty book that uses real-world examples to take readers on a discussion about estimation, forecasting and predictions, examining both historical successes and failures. It includes an amazingly accessible introduction to Bayesian analysis. It’s up there as one of the best books on the topic.
“A lightbulb moment”
Dan Vacanti’s Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An Introduction
was the focus of a post in June and has to be my ultimate lightbulb moment of 2015. I realised all that I’d been doing wrong in measuring flow. It changed how I worked from that moment on.
“It showed me another side to coaching”
The Coach’s Casebook: Mastering The Twelve Traits That Trap Us
by Geoff Watts and Kim Morgan drove home how fine the line is between managing change, business coaching and therapy. It made me realise how we, in our roles, need to be well-equipped to deal with a multitude of situations, and how we too benefit from getting the help of a supervisor or coach. It caused me to change my plan for 2016.
“Thought provoking and great fun”
Paul Goddard’s debut book, Improv-ing Agile Teams: Using Constraints To Unlock Creativity
, is a great read and was the subject of a September post. I’ve since seen Paul in action at the Scrum Alliance gathering in Prague, where he ran a session on improv, and it has really hit home how to bring more fun into the regular meetings we have.
But what did others think were their best reads of 2015?
I didn’t want to just give my favourites though, so I asked a few friends to give me their favourite book of 2015 . Here’s what they said:
“Been enjoying Johanna Rothman’s Predicting the Unpredictable: Pragmatic Approaches to Estimating Cost or Schedule” ~ Mark Dalgarno
by Mike Bonifer and Jessie Shternshus.” ~ Paul Goddard
by Fredric Laloux. Possibly the best work-related book I have ever read! I also re-read Lyssa Adkins Coaching Agile Teams book, still a good read.” ~ Jiten Vara
by Mullainathan and Shafir. Slack is not enough! Scarcity is far more important. This is a behavioural economics book and Mullainathan and Shafir are a serious economist and psychologist. Scarcity has an upside not just a downside. How anyone can call themselves an agile coach without reading this boggles my mind now I’ve read it! DeMarco’s Slack reads like a tabloid compared to this although they deal with the same issue these guys do it with rigour while remaining readable.” ~ Allan Kelly (author of Xanpan)
“Paul Goddard’s [Improv-ing Agile Teams: Using Constraints To Unlock Creativity] because it is brave and provides the agile community with the opportunity to broaden its perspective and learn from an abstract area.” ~ Geoff Watts
Image (homepage) by Jean Scheijen
What was your favourite read of 2015? Feel free to tell us in the comments section.