Hi folks, welcome to Not Only Code!

In this video I recommend a number of books for new engineering managers. Below you'll find the resources I'm talking about and a link to a longer, more complete list of resources for engineering managers that I recommend


🎥 Timeline:
0:00 Intro
0:30 Book #1
1:32 Book #2
2:22 Book #3
3:30 Book #4
4:14 Books #5 & #6
5:08 Book #7


⛓ Links (amzn.to are affiliate links):
* Become an effective engineering manager - https://amzn.to/3AlQmxq
* Manager's path - https://amzn.to/3CsodGA
* An elegant puzzle - https://amzn.to/3lCGICk
* Leading snowflakes - https://leadingsnowflakes.com/
* The Phoenix project - https://amzn.to/3ix1Sj6
* The Unicorn project - https://amzn.to/3jEfHMm
* The culture map - https://amzn.to/2Vq40AP


📚More resources
* https://www.notonlycode.org/engineering-manager-resources - a freshly compiled list of resources for engineering managers. Books, blogs, tools, and in the future articles and podcasts - check it out!

If you enjoy this kind of content, check out my website, 🌏 https://notonlycode.org, where I publish more in-depth articles about software development.


As always, if you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, you can contact me:
✉️ email: gregory@notonlycode.org
🐦 Twitter: @GregoryWitek

Maybe you're a new engineering manager who's still trying to navigate this role.

Maybe you're considering a move to management and you would like to understand how it differs from being a software developer.

Or maybe you're just curious about what your engineering manager does the whole day.

In any case, there is a number of resources and number of good books that you can read to understand what does it mean to be engineering manager and how to become a better engineering manager.

Without further ado, let's talk about the books.

The first book is something that I finished just yesterday.

It's title is Become an Effective Software Engineering Management.

It covers all the responsibilities of you as an engineering manager.

It talks about how to approach different topics and it discusses some best practices.

The book starts with introducing you to your new role and what we should do over the first couple of days and then it goes into various responsibilities that you will be having.

One-on-ones, performance review, hiring people, letting people go, delegation.

It also covers things like mental health and work-life balance and a lot of other topics.

It's 1 of these books that you can read cover to cover and everything or almost everything that you read will be really relevant to your job.

I've been working as an engineering manager for more than 3 years and still I really enjoy this read.

There's maybe just 1 chapter in the entire book where I felt like okay that's not entirely convincing.

Recently I've read that this book is available as an online course.

The next title is The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier, who writes not only about engineering management, but the whole leadership track.

If you watch my first video, I talked about the dual track, where you can either remain an individual contributor and eventually become architect or maybe principal developer and the management track where you can become engineering manager, VP of engineering, maybe CTO in the future.

It starts from a team lead and it goes up, up, up to the CTO position.

I would say that this book is not a deep dive on the role of engineering manager.

If you lead a single team, there are maybe 3 chapters that are relevant to you and the other chapters go further into the career.

But still, if you want to understand how the management track looks like for software engineers and what are the next steps, what you can do later, where you can go further in your career.

The next book is titled An Elegant Puzzle.

It was written by Will Larson and it talks about different problems that you will find as an engineering manager and in the future maybe VP of engineering or CTO, it covers a very wide range of topics.

One-on-ones, cold sourcing, reorganization, presentations, thinking about your career, thinking about succession and who will replace you in your current position.

I've listened to it as an audiobook and I must say I enjoyed it, though it feels chaotic.

What I mean is that I'm listening to a topic of reorganization and 5 or 10 minutes later I'm listening about how to make presentations and present them to senior leadership.

So the topics like reorganization and making a presentation are very close to each other and I often felt that the narrative is not very continuous there.

If you buy this book as an e-book or as a paper book and you want to focus on some particular topics it is a good read.

I recommend checking the list of chapters and just going through the various sections, not cover to cover, but just go to the topics that interest you.

Then I believe that this book provides more value.

Before we jump to the next books, an honorable mention to Leading Snowflakes by Oren Ellenbogen.

Back when I first became interested in engineering management, there were not many books on this topic.

All the 3 books that I mentioned just now were written after that and Leading Snowflakes was 1 of few resources that I found and that helped me to understand what engineering manager is about.

It's a short book or like an introduction with a checklist about how to start leading people.

It also acknowledged the loneliness of engineering managers, something that I will talk about in the future, but something that made me realize that, hey, I'm not the only 1.

I'm glad that other people acknowledge that thing.

Right now, there are a lot of different resources on the topic, but back then, it was a book that really helped me.

Next, I have 2 slightly different books, Phoenix Project and Unicom Project.

They are actually talking about IT, they are talking about programming, they are talking also about DevOps.

Each of them tells a story of a successful fictional company that struggles with adjusting to the new practices.

The company still has a lot of revenue, but the digital transformation is not going well.

There are lots of bottlenecks and constantly projects are failing.

Spoiler, always a group of people manages to push through, change the company and they become the heroes.

Phoenix Project focuses more on DevOps while Unicorn Project focuses on developers.

I enjoy Phoenix Project more, but maybe that's because I was younger when I read it and I just like this format more.

They're both very valuable and very entertaining.

The last book for today The Culture Map by Erin Mayer.

Not an engineering book, not an engineering management book, business book.

If you've ever worked in an international environment, then I'm sure that you had some problems understanding the cultural differences between yourself and your colleagues.

Maybe 1 of your colleagues never spoke up during meetings, maybe 1 of your colleagues was always late and the other 1 was very particular about being on time.

This is the topic of the book, the cultural differences and how to understand people that come from different cultures than you.

For example, relationship with your boss.

In Western Europe or North America, we are very casual with our direct supervisor.

While for example in East Asia people and the supervisors have a very formal relationship.

This concept of paradisance is 1 of 8 topics that are covered in the Culture Map.

If you've ever wondered why some of your colleagues are always on time and some of them are always 20 minutes late, this book will help you to understand it.

Books are not the only resources that you can use to help you navigate your role.

Below this video, I put a link to article on my website where I list other resources like newsletters or some tools or some articles that will help you become a better engineering manager.


Speaker 0: Maybe you're a new engineering manager who's still trying to navigate this role. Maybe you're considering a move to management and you would like to understand how it differs from being a software developer. Or maybe you're just curious about what your engineering manager does the whole day. In any case, there is a number of resources and number of good books that you can read to understand what does it mean to be engineering manager and how to become a better engineering manager. Hi folks, it's Gregory.

You're watching Not Only Code. Without further ado, let's talk about the books. The first book is something that I finished just yesterday. It's title is Become an Effective Software Engineering Management. This book covers all the basics.

It covers all the responsibilities of you as an engineering manager. It talks about how to approach different topics and it discusses some best practices. The book starts with introducing you to your new role and what we should do over the first couple of days and then it goes into various responsibilities that you will be having. One-on-ones, performance review, hiring people, letting people go, delegation. It also covers things like mental health and work-life balance and a lot of other topics.

It's 1 of these books that you can read cover to cover and everything or almost everything that you read will be really relevant to your job. I've been working as an engineering manager for more than 3 years and still I really enjoy this read. There's maybe just 1 chapter in the entire book where I felt like okay that's not entirely convincing. Recently I've read that this book is available as an online course. The link is below this video.

The next title is The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier, who writes not only about engineering management, but the whole leadership track. If you watch my first video, I talked about the dual track, where you can either remain an individual contributor and eventually become architect or maybe principal developer and the management track where you can become engineering manager, VP of engineering, maybe CTO in the future. This book covers this whole track. It starts from a team lead and it goes up, up, up to the CTO position. I would say that this book is not a deep dive on the role of engineering manager.

If you lead a single team, there are maybe 3 chapters that are relevant to you and the other chapters go further into the career. But still, if you want to understand how the management track looks like for software engineers and what are the next steps, what you can do later, where you can go further in your career. This is a good read. The next book is titled An Elegant Puzzle. It was written by Will Larson and it talks about different problems that you will find as an engineering manager and in the future maybe VP of engineering or CTO, it covers a very wide range of topics.

One-on-ones, cold sourcing, reorganization, presentations, thinking about your career, thinking about succession and who will replace you in your current position. I've listened to it as an audiobook and I must say I enjoyed it, though it feels chaotic. What I mean is that I'm listening to a topic of reorganization and 5 or 10 minutes later I'm listening about how to make presentations and present them to senior leadership. So the topics like reorganization and making a presentation are very close to each other and I often felt that the narrative is not very continuous there. If you buy this book as an e-book or as a paper book and you want to focus on some particular topics it is a good read.

I recommend checking the list of chapters and just going through the various sections, not cover to cover, but just go to the topics that interest you. Then I believe that this book provides more value. Before we jump to the next books, an honorable mention to Leading Snowflakes by Oren Ellenbogen. Back when I first became interested in engineering management, there were not many books on this topic. All the 3 books that I mentioned just now were written after that and Leading Snowflakes was 1 of few resources that I found and that helped me to understand what engineering manager is about.

It's a short book or like an introduction with a checklist about how to start leading people. It also acknowledged the loneliness of engineering managers, something that I will talk about in the future, but something that made me realize that, hey, I'm not the only 1. I'm glad that other people acknowledge that thing. Right now, there are a lot of different resources on the topic, but back then, it was a book that really helped me. Next, I have 2 slightly different books, Phoenix Project and Unicom Project.

These books are actually novels. But don't be misled. They are actually talking about IT, they are talking about programming, they are talking also about DevOps. Each of them tells a story of a successful fictional company that struggles with adjusting to the new practices. The company still has a lot of revenue, but the digital transformation is not going well.

Developers are unhappy. There are lots of bottlenecks and constantly projects are failing. Spoiler, always a group of people manages to push through, change the company and they become the heroes. Phoenix Project focuses more on DevOps while Unicorn Project focuses on developers. I enjoy Phoenix Project more, but maybe that's because I was younger when I read it and I just like this format more.

But anyway you should read both of them. They're both very valuable and very entertaining. The last book for today The Culture Map by Erin Mayer. Not an engineering book, not an engineering management book, business book. Still very relevant.

If you've ever worked in an international environment, then I'm sure that you had some problems understanding the cultural differences between yourself and your colleagues. Maybe 1 of your colleagues never spoke up during meetings, maybe 1 of your colleagues was always late and the other 1 was very particular about being on time. This is the topic of the book, the cultural differences and how to understand people that come from different cultures than you. For example, relationship with your boss. In Western Europe or North America, we are very casual with our direct supervisor.

While for example in East Asia people and the supervisors have a very formal relationship. This concept of paradisance is 1 of 8 topics that are covered in the Culture Map. If you've ever wondered why some of your colleagues are always on time and some of them are always 20 minutes late, this book will help you to understand it. Books are not the only resources that you can use to help you navigate your role. Below this video, I put a link to article on my website where I list other resources like newsletters or some tools or some articles that will help you become a better engineering manager.

And that's it for today folks. Thanks for watching and take care.

See all Not Only Code transcripts on Youtube

Books to read as a new engineering manager