Complete Book Recommendations Archive (139 Books)
Comprehensive Reading Foundation for Engineering Leadership
Every established practice I use to advance enterprise AI productivity has roots in carefully selected literature. This complete archive contains all 139 books that shaped my practices to engineering leadership, from foundational technical architecture to AI ethics and human-centric technology development.
Complete Collection Overview
139 books organized by practical impact and relevance to engineering leadership challenges. Each book includes relevance scoring to help you prioritize based on your current needs and experience level.
Categories: All-Purpose Foundation | Architecture & Technology | Business Model | Organization | Service & Product | Steering & Strategy
How to Use This Archive
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Relevance Scoring
Books rated 1-10 based on practical impact:
10 - Foundational, transformative impact
9 - Highly influential, broad application
8 - Strong practical value
7-6 - Valuable for specific contexts
5-3 - Moderate usefulness
2-1 - Limited application
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Special Distinction
Hackers & Painters receives unique recognition as the personal inspiration behind our company name "hackers&wizards" - representing the creative craft philosophy that bridges technical excellence with humanistic thinking.
All-Purpose Foundation
Books that apply across all engineering leadership contexts - essential reading regardless of your specific focus area.
Relevance 10 (Foundational Impact)
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age by Paul Graham ISBN: 1449389554 | Amazon
Company Inspiration
This book inspired our company name "hackers&wizards." Graham's vision of programming as creative craft - where hackers build with the same creative spirit that painters create - became foundational to our philosophy of human-centric technology development.
All Hands on Tech: Your How-To Guide for Building Great Tech Organizations at Scale by Matthias Patzak, Sophie Seiwald-Højer Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 3982681219 | Amazon
Art of Scalability, The: Scalable Web Architecture, Processes, and Organizations for the Modern Enterprise by Martin L. Abbott and Michael T. Fisher Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0134032802 | Amazon
Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0470876417 | Amazon
Business Model You: The One-Page Way to Reinvent Your Work at Any Life Stage by Timothy Clark, Alexander Osterwalder, and Yves Pigneur Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1119879647 | Amazon
The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results by Stephen Bungay Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1529376963 | Amazon
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard P. Rumelt Relevance: 10 | ISBN: B07RC54L2X | Amazon
Relevance 7-9 (Highly Valuable)
Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by James C. Collins Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 0712676090 | Amazon
Relevance 3-6 (Moderate Value)
Flow Engineering: From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action by Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1950508455 | Amazon
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1524762407 | Amazon
Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI by Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje, and Rodney Zemmel Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1394207115 | Amazon
Architecture & Technology
Technical architecture, software engineering practices, and technology leadership foundations.
Relevance 10 (Foundational Impact)
Accelerate: The Science Behind Devops: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1942788339 | Amazon
Adaptive Systems with Domain-Driven Design, Wardley Mapping, and Team Topologies by Zhamak Dehghani Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0137393032 | Amazon
Micro Frontends in Action by Michael Geers Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1617296872 | Amazon
Platform Strategy: Innovation Through Harmonization by Gregor Hohpe Relevance: 10 | ISBN: B0D1R6DX2M | Amazon
Learning Systems Thinking: Essential Nonlinear Skills and Practices for Software Professionals by Diana Montalion Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 109815133X | Amazon
Pragmatic Programmer, The: Your journey to excellence, 20th Anniversary Edition by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0135957052 | Amazon
Modern Software Engineering: Doing What Works to Build Better Software Faster by David Farley Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0137314914 | Amazon
Facilitating Software Architecture: Empowering Teams to Make Architectural Decisions by Stefan Toth Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1098151860 | Amazon
Relevance 8-9 (Highly Valuable)
Balancing Coupling in Software Design: Universal Design Principles for Architecting Modular Software Systems by Vladik Khononov Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 0137353480 | Amazon
The Engineering Executive's Primer: Impactful Technical Leadership by T. C. Perry and T. P. Solloway Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 1098149483 | Amazon
Architecture Modernization: Socio-technical alignment of software, strategy, and structure by Nick Tune and Scott Millett Relevance: 9 | ISBN: 1633438155 | Amazon
Building Evolutionary Architectures: Automated Software Governance by Neal Ford, Rebecca Parsons, and Patrick Kua Relevance: 9 | ISBN: 1492097543 | Amazon
Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Framework by Mark Richards and Neal Ford Relevance: 9 | ISBN: 1492043451 | Amazon
Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 0321278658 | Amazon
Relevance 6-7 (Valuable for Specific Contexts)
Domain-Driven Design Distilled by Vaughn Vernon Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0134434420 | Amazon
Domain Modeling Made Functional: Tackle Software Complexity with Domain-Driven Design and F# by Scott Wlaschin Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1680502549 | Amazon
Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems by Sam Newman Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1492034029 | Amazon
Clean Architecture: A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design by Robert C. Martin Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 0134494164 | Amazon
Functional Design: Principles, Patterns, and Practices by Robert C. Martin Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 0138176396 | Amazon
Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager: How to Be the Leader Your Development Team Needs by James Stanier Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 1680507249 | Amazon
Software Architecture: The Hard Parts: Modern Trade-Off Analyses for Distributed Architectures by Neal Ford, Mark Richards, Pramod Sadalage, and Zhamak Dehghani Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1492086894 | Amazon
Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0134757599 | Amazon
Platform Engineering: A Guide for Technical, Product, and People Leaders by Luca Galante Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1098153642 | Amazon
The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, & Security in Technology Organizations by Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, and John Willis Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1950508404 | Amazon
Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software by Eric Evans Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0321125215 | Amazon
Platform Engineering for Architects: Crafting modern platforms as a product by Eoin Woods and Stanimir Gulenov Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1836203594 | Amazon
Relevance 1-5 (Limited Application)
Data Mesh: Delivering Data-Driven Value at Scale by Zhamak Dehghani Relevance: 1 | ISBN: 1492092398 | Amazon
Learning Domain-Driven Design: Aligning Software Architecture and Business Strategy by Vladik Khononov Relevance: 1 | ISBN: 1098100131 | Amazon
Implementing Domain-Driven Design by Vaughn Vernon Relevance: 1 | ISBN: 0321834577 | Amazon
Managing Humans: More Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager by Michael Lopp Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1484271157 | Amazon
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 0132350882 | Amazon
The Software Architect Elevator: Redefining the Architect's Role in the Digital Enterprise by Gregor Hohpe Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1492077542 | Amazon
Cloud Strategy: A Decision-based Framework for Successful Cloud Migration by Gregor Hohpe Relevance: 3 | ISBN: B08F6TVVTF | Amazon
Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation by Jez Humble and David Farley Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 0321601912 | Amazon
Data Mesh in Action by Jacek Majchrzak, Sven-Torben Janus, and Marian Siwek Relevance: 1 | ISBN: 1633439976 | Amazon
Continuous Delivery Pipelines: How To Build Better Software Faster by Dave Farley Relevance: 2 | ISBN: B096TTQHYM | Amazon
Business Model
Strategic business thinking, value proposition design, and organizational strategy.
Relevance 8-10 (High Value)
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Blake Masters and Peter Thiel Relevance: 9 | ISBN: 0553418289 | Amazon
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 0062273205 | Amazon
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 145550890X | Amazon
The Art of Business Value by Mark Schwartz Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 1942788045 | Amazon
Relevance 5-6 (Moderate Value)
Start With Why: The multi-million-copy bestselling management and leadership book by Simon Sinek Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 0241958229 | Amazon
Testing Business Ideas: A Field Guide for Rapid Experimentation by David J. Bland and Alexander Osterwalder Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 1119551447 | Amazon
Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice by Clayton M. Christensen, Karen Dillon, Taddy Hall, and David S. Duncan Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0062435612 | Amazon
Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, and Alan Smith Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1118968050 | Amazon
The Invincible Company: How to Constantly Reinvent Your Organization by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Fred Etiemble, and Alan Smith Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1119523966 | Amazon
Relevance 2 (Limited Application)
Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 1625274491 | Amazon
Organization
Team dynamics, leadership development, and organizational design for engineering teams.
Relevance 10 (Foundational Impact)
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0787960756 | Amazon
Remote Mob Programming: At home, but not alone by Lisi Hocke and Chris Hanna Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 3982112605 | Amazon
Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say and What You Don't by L. David Marquet Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0241373662 | Amazon
Empower The Ship Around!: A True Story of Empowering Followers Into Leaders by L. David Marquet Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0241250943 | Amazon
Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Handbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1473675987 | Amazon
Lead Without Blame: Building Resilient Learning Teams by Diana Larsen and Tricia Broderick Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0369396588 | Amazon
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1786891700 | Amazon
The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1847941273 | Amazon
Relevance 8-9 (Highly Valuable)
Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 1942788819 | Amazon
Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products by Marty Cagan and Chris Jones Relevance: 9 | ISBN: 111969129X | Amazon
Just Work: How to Confront Bias, Prejudice and Bullying to Build a Culture of Inclusivity by Kim Scott Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 1529063612 | Amazon
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Skill Development by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 0544947223 | Amazon
Relevance 6-7 (Valuable for Specific Contexts)
A Guide to Belbin Team Roles: How to increase personal and team performance by Meredith Belbin Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0986295671 | Amazon
Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Empower How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1444792385 | Amazon
Dynamic Reteaming: The Art and Wisdom of Changing Teams by Heidi Helfand Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1492061298 | Amazon
Mindset - Updated Edition: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential by Dr. Carol S. Dweck Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 147213995X | Amazon
The Talent Code: Greatness isn't born. It's grown by Daniel Coyle Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0099519852 | Amazon
Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success by Angela Duckworth Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 1785040200 | Amazon
Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams by Alistair Cockburn Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 0201699478 | Amazon
Relevance 3-5 (Moderate Value)
No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 0753560968 | Amazon
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't by Simon Sinek Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1591848016 | Amazon
Remote Team Interactions Workbook: Using Team Topologies Patterns for Remote Working by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1950508617 | Amazon
Radical Candor: Fully Revised and Updated Edition by Kim Scott Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 1529038340 | Amazon
Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better by Kim Scott Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 1035053055 | Amazon
Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders by Jurgen Appelo Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 0321712471 | Amazon
The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You by Julie Zhuo Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 0525540423 | Amazon
Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage in Human Consciousness by Frederic Laloux Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 2960133501 | Amazon
The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1610392760 | Amazon
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 0374533555 | Amazon
The Culture Playbook: 60 Highly Effective Actions to Help Your Group Succeed by Daniel Coyle Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 184794387X | Amazon
Holacracy: The Revolutionary Management System that Abolishes Hierarchy by Brian J. Robertson Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 0241205867 | Amazon
Right Kind of Wrong: How the Best Teams Use Failure to Succeed by Amy C. Edmondson Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1847943780 | Amazon
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace by Amy C. Edmondson Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1119477247 | Amazon
Relevance 2 (Limited Application)
Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding from Anywhere by Tsedal Neeley Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 006309438X | Amazon
High-Impact Tools for Teams: 5 Tools to Align Team Members, Build Trust, and Get Results Fast by Stefano Mastrogiacomo and Alexander Osterwalder Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1119602386 | Amazon
Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 0977616649 | Amazon
Service & Product
Product development, user experience, and service design for technology organizations.
Relevance 10 (Foundational Impact)
Strong Product People: A Complete Guide to Developing Great Product Managers by Petra Wille Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 3982235103 | Amazon
Untrapping Product Teams: Simplify the Complexity of Creating Digital Products by Petra Wille Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0135335388 | Amazon
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0241184835 | Amazon
Product Operations: How successful companies build better products at scale by Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles Relevance: 10 | ISBN: B0CK3HL4WF | Amazon
Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value by Melissa Perri Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 149197379X | Amazon
Managing the Design Factory by Donald G. Reinertsen Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0684839911 | Amazon
Relevance 6-8 (Valuable for Specific Contexts)
Project to Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption by Mik Kersten Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 1942788398 | Amazon
The Jobs To Be Done: Align Your Markets, Organization, and Strategy Around Customer Needs by Stephen Wunker, Jessica Wattman, and David Farber Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 1933820683 | Amazon
The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea by Rob Fitzpatrick Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1492180742 | Amazon
Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1787634116 | Amazon
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1119387507 | Amazon
Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice by Clayton M. Christensen, Karen Dillon, Taddy Hall, and David S. Duncan Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0062435612 | Amazon
Relevance 2-5 (Moderate to Limited Value)
Transformed: Moving to the Product Operating Model by Marty Cagan Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 1119697336 | Amazon
The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development by Donald G. Reinertsen Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 1935401009 | Amazon
Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value by Teresa Torres Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1736633309 | Amazon
The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products by Dan Olsen Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1118960874 | Amazon
Impact Mapping: Making a Big Impact With Software Products and Projects by Gojko Adzic Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 0955683645 | Amazon
Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership by Karen Martin and Mike Osterling Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 0071828915 | Amazon
Lean UX: Designing Great Products with Agile Teams by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 1098116305 | Amazon
Lean Customer Development: Building Products Your Customers Will Buy by Cindy Alvarez Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 1492023744 | Amazon
Steering & Strategy
Strategic decision-making, measurement, and organizational guidance for technology leaders.
Relevance 10 (Foundational Impact)
ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0091929784 | Amazon
The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1942788290 | Amazon
The Unicorn Project: A Novel About Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data by Gene Kim Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1492092398 | Amazon
Switch: How to change things when change is hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 1847940323 | Amazon
Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0735216371 | Amazon
When Will It Be Done?: Lean-Agile Forecasting to Answer Your Customers' Most Important Question by Daniel S. Vacanti Relevance: 10 | ISBN: 0986436372 | Amazon
Relevance 8-9 (Highly Valuable)
The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier Relevance: 9 | ISBN: 1491973897 | Amazon
The Mythical Man-Month. Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. Relevance: 9 | ISBN: 0201835959 | Amazon
How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business by Douglas W. Hubbard Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 1118539273 | Amazon
Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr Relevance: 8 | ISBN: 0525538348 | Amazon
Shape Up: Pare de andar em círculos e entregue trabalho que importa by Ryan Singer Relevance: 8 | ISBN: B0DKWHWV1L | Amazon
Relevance 6-7 (Valuable for Specific Contexts)
Evidence-Guided: Creating High Impact Products in the Face of Uncertainty by Itamar Gilad Relevance: 7 | ISBN: B0CJDFBN1X | Amazon
The Fifth Discipline (Rough Cut): The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge Relevance: 7 | ISBN: 0385517254 | Amazon
Escape Velocity: Better Metrics for Agile Teams by Doc Norton Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 0578644835 | Amazon
Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Relevance: 6 | ISBN: 1529033845 | Amazon
Relevance 2-5 (Moderate to Limited Value)
Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An Introduction by Daniel S. Vacanti Relevance: 5 | ISBN: 098643633X | Amazon
This is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox by Niklas Modig and Pär Åhlström Relevance: 4 | ISBN: 919803930X | Amazon
Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility by Jonathan Smart Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1950508412 | Amazon
Leading Change, With a New Preface by the Author by John P. Kotter Relevance: 3 | ISBN: 1422186431 | Amazon
The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 0566086654 | Amazon
Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow by Dominica DeGrandis Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 1950508498 | Amazon
Wardley Maps by Simon Wardley Relevance: 2 | ISBN: B0B3S3Q1WW | Amazon
Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum by Mike Cohn Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 0321579364 | Amazon
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland Relevance: 2 | ISBN: 1847941109 | Amazon
Kanban from the Inside: Understand the Kanban Framework by Mike Burrows Relevance: 1 | ISBN: 0985305193 | Amazon
Rethinking Agile: Why Agile Teams Have Nothing To Do With Business Agility by Klaus Leopold Relevance: 1 | ISBN: 3903205397 | Amazon