Technical Management

Technical management seems a contradiction in terms. Software is everywhere, but hardware and firmware create a somewhat different game.

Books, Articles, Videos, Podcasts that I have found useful in twenty different life situations

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My media recommendations for your situation

Isaac Davenport

2023.12.04

1. My top recommendations

Power Weekend Six Rules for Success Speech

Getting Things Done

The revised psychology of human misjudgement

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Difficult Conversations: How to discuss what matters most

Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary

2. You’re in your first technical management position

First, break all the rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently

The coaching habit: Say Less, Ask More, & Change the Way you Lead Forever

How to measure anything

Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is

An elegant puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management

The Effective Executive

Harvard Business Review

3. You’re interested in product development

Four steps to the epiphany

Game Thinking

The Design of Everyday Things

The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers & Learn If Your Business Is a Good Idea When Everyone Is Lying to You

4. You need to understand non-technical people

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

How to Win Friends and Influence People

How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk

5. You’re a techie struggling in an intimate relationship with a non-technical person

Nonviolent Communication: Create your Life, your Relationships, and your World in Harmony with your Values

Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love

How to Think More About Sex (The School of Life)

6. You don’t know why your life isn’t better

Thinking fast and slow

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business

Designing your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

Immunity to Change

Atomic Habits

The Happiness Hypothesis: Ten Ways to Find Happiness and Meaning in Life\

Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary

7. You’re reevaluating right, wrong and the inherited wisdom from your tribe

The Moral Landscape: How Science can Determine Human Values

Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis

The Righteous Mind

8. You’re interested in the science behind actually being healthier

How Doctors Think

The Calorie Myth

Lifespan

Thinking fast and slow

9. You want to be a better technical leader

Difficult Conversations: How to discuss what matters most

The coaching habit: Say Less, Ask More, & Change the Way you Lead Forever

Immunity to Change

First break all the rules

The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

10. You’re finding yourself

Designing your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

The last lecture

Focusing

Beyond Order: 12 more rules for life

11. You’re graduating from engineering school

Designing your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware by Hunt

Power Weekend Six Rules for Success Speech

The last lecture

Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference

Outliers

12. You don’t understand why you’re not being promoted into technical leadership

Thanks for all the feedback

Give and Take by Grant

How to win friends and influence people by Carnegie

Principles by Ray Dalio

Difficult Conversations: How to discuss what matters most

13. You’re an engineer that wants to be a better parent

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

The Gardner and the Carpenter

Parenting with Love and Logic by Cline

Hold onto your kids Neufeld

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Tough

Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary

14. You’re a technically oriented person who wants to be a better communicator

Getting Things Done

The elements of style by White and Strunk

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Karpman’s drama triangle

15. You’re a techie that wants to be smarter

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware by Hunt.

Thinking in bets by Duke.

Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It by Leslie.

Keep Sharp:  Gupta

An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Almossawi

The Great Mental Models by Parrish

How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-based Medicine and Healthcare

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Mlodinow

A Mathematical Theory of Communication by Claude Shannon

16. You want to be more productive and effective engineer

Getting things done

Flow

Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

Just Enough Project Management: The Indispensable Four-step Process for Managing Any Project, Better, Faster, Cheaper

17. You’re an engineer trying to work yourself out of a bad mental space

Man’s search for meaning, Frankel

Focusing by Gendlin

The Happiness Hypothesis: Ten Ways to Find Happiness and Meaning in Life

The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse

Stumbling on Happiness

Strategies to reach your potential

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

The happiness advantage

18. Historical books still relevant to an engineer today

On the origins of species by Darwin

The Wealth of Nations by Smith

The Holy Bible New International Version by Biblia

The art of war

The Prince

19. You’re a technical person interested in the origins and essence of biological life

The selfish gene by Dawkins

On the Origin of Species by Darwin

What is life by Schroedinger

Sapiens by Harari

20. You’re an engineer interested in business

Good to Great by Collins

The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations By: James Surowiecki

How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Collins

The effective executive Drucker

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea by: Micklethwait

21. You’re engineer interested in entrepreneurship

Four steps to the epiphany

Game Thinking

Innovation and Entrepreneurship By: Peter F. Drucker

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Goldratt

The great game of business

Nail it then scale it by Furr

Zero to one Peter Thiel

A case study of innovation by Morison

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