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At the beginning of last year I set myself the goal of reading 10 books per quarter. The plan was to re-read some of what was already sitting on my shelf and spice it up with a few new acquisitions along the way. As the year went on and business got, well, busier, reading increasingly fell by the wayside so I ended the year with 20 books completed, not 40. Regardless, I came across a few fantastic books that will have a profound impact on how I think, work and live so I reckon the goal had the intended impact.
I often get asked for book recommendations and while I still haven't written my "top 10" list of books that I would recommend, I thought I'd at least finish the year by reviewing, and ranking, this year's selection. Below is a short summary, high level thoughts and rating for each book I read this year. At the very end I'll reveal this year's ranking - read on in order if you can stand the excitement, or scroll to the bottom to see the outcome ;-)
Paul R. Niven and Ben Lamorte: Objectives and Key Results
Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs
If you're new to the concept of Objectives and Key Results then the prolific OKR bible "Measure What Matters" is probably still the best place to start. Choose "Radical Focus" if you prefer a storyline with your teachings.
Having read both of those years ago, I was keen to broaden my literature on the concept to see how other people interpreted and used it. And this book didn't disappoint. My key take-away? Don't religiously cascade goals through the organisation. It gets messy very quickly and you end up creating artificial "holding" goals that only serve the purpose of containing team sub-goals. Instead encourage teams to "hang" their goals directly off top-level company or department goals. How do they believe they can contribute to the company's overall ambition?
Rating: 7/10. Get your copy here or listen to the audio book.
Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais: Team Topologies
Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow
A bookshelf staple that I have been known to force on people in the past - for their own good, may I add!
It really is a classic and has profoundly affected the way I think about team structures and flow. In many ways it's the foundation for the thinking around value stream teams which takes the team topologies concept of cross-functional teams one step further.
Probably most suitable for medium to large organisations where genuine cross-functional teams that transcend the technology / business boundary may not be feasible (yet?), this book will help you create autonomous and self-sufficient technology teams. If you are not yet familiar with the concepts of stream-aligned teams, enabling teams or platform team then this should be high on your reading list for 2023.
Rating: 8/10. Get your copy here. Also available as an audio book.
Alan Weiss: Million Dollar Consulting
The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice
According to a lovely friend of mine, this is the consulting bible so I felt it was an appropriate addition to the Q1 reading list - after all, I had set up my own practice just five minutes before.
It is genuinely a useful book and introduces all sorts of good concepts and "rules to live by". The single most valuable take-away is the idea of value-based fees, which I have been trying to adopt. After all, clients should pay for results, not effort or time spent. Not always an easy concept to apply in real life but I continue trying.
Overall a good and worthwhile read and the man behind this book is certainly a machine when it comes to self-aggrandising and marketing so you feel you'd ignore the lessons at your own peril - but, overall, it's a touch too American for my liking.
Rating 7.5/10. Interested in what he has to say? Get your copy here or listen to the audio book.
Amy Edmondson: The Fearless Organization
Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth
I listened to this on Audible while emptying a hay loft - don't ask. It's such a critical piece of research and in this day and age I believe that everyone should be familiar with the concept of psychological safety and the benefits it brings - as well as the dangers that result from its absence!
The two key take-aways from this book for me were the existence of Google's Aristotle study and the frightening consequences of the lack of psychological safety in surgical/medical teams.
So, ultimately, the book serves as a good introduction to the concept and is well written and engaging enough to keep you interested, but now that I've learned what I needed to learn it is unlikely that I will pick it up again any time soon.
Rating: 6/10. Get your copy here. Or listen to the audio book.
Eric Ries: The Lean Startup
How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses
Written over 10 years ago this book is nevertheless as relevant as it was on day 1. Yes, upon re-reading this, it is evident that it has dated in places - but the underlying concepts are just as relevant today, if not more, given the relentless pace of innovation and disruption we're seeing in the marketplace.
Borrowing from concepts of the lean manufacturing movement, the book introduces "validated learning" through rapid scientific experimentation in an effort to shorten product development cycles, effectively measure progress and learn what customers actually want. If I ever write my list of ultimate top 10 books you should have read, this will be on it.
Rating: 9/10 - I've taken it down one point only because I would love to see an updated, second edition. Get the current edition here. Also available as an audio book.
Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble and Gene Kim: Accelerate
Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations
Based on scientific research this books is not only informative but should be a go-to for anyone looking to improve the agility and throughput of their organisation, technology or otherwise.
The authors outline 24 key capabilities that drive improvements in software delivery performance - from continuous delivery capabilities to product and process capabilities (hello value streams!), this book is a great reference to keep within easy reach.
There is a lot of detail around the scientific method behind the results, which gives you confidence that the findings are actually statistically significant. But it does also make it a bit dense in places.
Rating: 9/10. Get your copy here. Also available as an audio book.
Clayton Christensen: Competing Against Luck
The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice
Another classic on the subject of innovation, product-market fit and uncovering true customer needs, this book is a worthwhile addition to your shelf. Just like The Lean Startup, it feels a bit dated in places but the stories of the milk shake and mattress buying are pretty timeless. If you don't know what I'm talking about - read it, you will find plenty of inspiration that you can apply to your own circumstances.
The book is a great yet gentle introduction to Jobs To Be Done theory, something I'm hoping to get into much deeper this year.
The Innovator's Dilemma and the Innovator's Solution, both by Christensen, are also still on my reading list and I'm hoping they won't just be a rehash of the insights from this book.
Rating: 9/10 with the same rationale as The Lean Startup. Get your copy here. Also available as an audio book.
Eliyahu Goldratt: Theory of Constraints
Talking of classics, the near legendary The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt has to be among the list of classic literature on the subject of organisational efficiency and agility.
Instead of re-reading that, I chose to pick up The Theory of Constraints where the author delves deeper into the scientific concepts of systems theory, which underline the lessons learnt in his novel The Goal.
Sadly, I found this book fairly tedious, and even though it isn't very long, it took me a fair amount of will power to get through to the end. There are better books on Systems Theory out there and if you're looking for a gentle introduction to the subject, start with The Goal.
Rating: 4/10. Get your copy here, if you really want to...
Sharon Bowman: Training from the Back of the Room
65 Ways to Step Aside and Let Them Learn
A great book full of practical advice and useful examples for those that teach for a living or deliver training, workshops and the like. It's a touch American and the author labours some concepts excessively. This made it fairly hard work to read/finish (I found myself rolling my eyes a lot!).
But if you do persevere, it becomes a very useful reference book to guide you in structuring better, more effective training for any new course, workshop or lesson you may be planning.
One word of warning: once you're equipped with Sharon Bowman's insights you'll become increasingly irritated - if you weren't already! - by anyone delivering training in a traditional classroom "I talk, you listen" style.
Rating: 6/10. Get your copy here. There is no audio book for this.
Joseph O'Connor: The Art of Systems Thinking
Essential Skills for Creativity and Problem Solving
This book is a good introduction to the theory of systems thinking, and much easier to read than Goldratt's version.
I am a huge fan of systems thinking; it's a theory that in my view should be much more widely known in the business community. It is an invaluable resource to those who want to understand how to optimise their organisation's output. It provides the explanations you need to understand that individual productivity is fairly meaningless when trying to measure and improve a whole system's effectiveness.
There are probably still better books on system's theory out there (one of which is still on my reading list), but The Art of Systems Thinking certainly provides a good starting point.
Rating: 7/10. Get your copy here. Sadly no audio book for this one either.
Joseph O'Connor: Thorson's Way of NLP
Neurolinguistic programming is an approach that seeks to establish a connection between neurological processes, language and behavioural patterns.
Those that back this approach claim that it can codify the structure inherent in any human activity and thus allow it to be learned by others. Wikipedia calls it a pseudo-science and cites many scientific studies that have failed to prove the claims made by NLP practitioners. Nevertheless, I was curious to find out more and this book was a nice, quick introduction to the concept. Has it changed my life? Not really, but it presented interesting thought experiments regardless.
Rating: 6/10 (not an endorsement of the subject itself but a reflection of how well the book served its purpose as an introduction to the subject). Get your copy here if you're curious too :)
Alan Weiss: Million Dollar Consulting Proposals
How to Write a Proposal That's Accepted Every Time
Having read the Million Dollar Consulting book earlier in the year, I had hoped to get a bit more depth on writing good proposals in this follow-on book. And while it is definitely useful and full of valuable content, it didn't necessarily go any deeper into the subject than what I had already read.
If you're interested in a good, concise book on how to frame impactful proposals I would definitely recommend this - but only if you haven't already read the "generic" volume. In which case, don't bother.
(Fast forward a few days after I first typed this and I found myself picking up this particular book as a reference while preparing a client proposal; maybe a good bookshelf addition after all...)
Rating: 5.5/10. Get your copy here.
Jonathan Smart: Sooner, Safer, Happier
Patterns and Antipatterns for Organizational Agility
I was lucky enough to be given a free (and signed!) copy by the author at Seacon last year.
It is a very comprehensive overview of the current body of knowledge on organisational agility with a good structure to it. It will make a useful reference copy once you've digested the content first time round - and a lot to digest there is! It took me a fair amount of time to read as I found it best enjoyed in small doses.
But it serves as both an excellent refresher and a good introduction to better ways of working if you're looking for some inspiration for your own organisation.
Rating: 9/10. Get your copy here or listen to it instead.
Richard Rumelt: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy
The Difference and Why It Matters
I listened to this as an audiobook and it's on my list of books to buy in hardback because of how impactful I found it. It inspired my blog post on strategy and I found myself manually transcribing quotes from it to refer back to later!
It's particularly insightful if you are into moonshots, BHAGs or even just "regular" OKRs because the author draws a very clear distinction between strategy and strategic objectives. They inform each other, but are not the same.
High on the recommendation list. Rating 9/10. Get your copy here or listen to it (you may want to keep a notepad handy though!).
Matt Watkinson: The Grid
The Decision-Making Tool for Every Business
This book definitely made the top 3 of books I've read this year.
It's a fabulous overview for anyone running a business and covers a wide variety of angles, all of which need to play together to make your enterprise successful. It looks at customer wants & needs, pricing, competition, supplier relationships, costs, adaptability and a few other concepts.
Each area is distilled into the core principles that matter but, maybe more importantly, the author examines the interrelationship between them as well and repeatedly drives home the point that a successful business strategy cannot just focus on one area in isolation - it's about establishing a careful balance across all factors on the grid.
His "further reading" list inspired a lot of books on my Amazon wish list, which makes the book an excellent starting point for a broad overview of the things that drive your business while simultaneously providing a good roadmap for further exploration.
Vaugn Vernon: Domain-Driven Design Distilled
"Meh" is the word that comes to mind here. I decided to re-read this as it had been a few years and I was involved with some domain modelling work with a client and wondered whether this might make a useful primer to recommend to them.
Don't get me wrong: domain driven design is one of the most important principles and concepts you should get familiar with if you want to be explicit in your software design and create an architecture that will stand a chance of remaining maintainable as you grow your business. But is this the right entry point? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The book will certainly do the job of introducing you to the main concepts and will also give you some pointers as to how to apply them to your own problem space. But pointers is the key word here - there are a lot of references to his main book "Implementing Domain-Driven Design". So many that at times it feels like a glorified index to his original book.
And you could be forgiven for trying to find a quicker introduction to the subject than working your way through the 656 page long tomb that is Implementing Domain-Driven Design. Yet somehow I wish he had done a better job at writing a condensed version that takes you by the hand and teaches you the basics. I also found his worked example of building software to run Scrum projects less than ideal.
Overall I would say, don't bother. I don't yet know what else to recommend on the subject, if you have any suggestions please leave a comment!
Rating: 4/10. Get your copy here, if you must.
Rob Walker: Buying In
The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are
This book came from the Further Reading list in The Grid. I was hoping for a mix of sociology, psychology and marketing insights - but most of all I was hoping for tangible, actionable take-aways to leverage when introducing new products to the marketplace.
Sadly, the book disappointed. While there are elements of psychology/sociology peppered throughout the book and I did learn new things (like the huge commercial apparatus behind word of mouth!), it was more a foray into the history of (US-centric) retail marketing. To top it off, given the book's age (it was published in 2010), it felt a bit like watching telly on a cathode-ray tube and being told I get to experience the newest, greatest innovation of modern times.
Rating: 3/10. I don't feel it's worth a recommendation, so I won't share a link. Sorry Mr. Walker.
William Thorndike: The Outsiders
Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
Really interesting premise to this book. Who is the greatest CEO of all times? Jack Welch of GE fame is often quoted when this question is asked (for a different perspective check out this excellent article posted in the New York Times).
This book looks beyond that hype and showcases 8 CEOs, most of whom you won't have heard of, that dwarfed Welch's success. In some cases by returning 20x what Welch managed to return for shareholders. And most importantly, the author tries to explain how. (The answer is deceptively simple, but I won't spoil it for you).
Definitely an interesting read based on thorough research. It made me stop and reflect more than once, which is always a good sign. But three problems:
Most companies and CEOs portrayed dominated in the 1980s and 1990s - the world was a very different place then and you are left wondering how their performance compares to more recent examples. (Let's just say that the core ingredients the author identifies for success are certainly not in Elon's tool belt!)
The research is entirely US-based - are all outstanding CEOs really American?
The definition of success is extremely narrow: shareholder return. There are so many other dimensions that should be looked at, which truly matter and make a difference in this world, it feels simplistic to just look at money.
Nevertheless a solid 7/10 and worth a read. It's well written so you can get through it with relative ease and take away a few nuggets along the way. Get your copy here, or listen to it instead.
Jeff Gothelf: Forever Employable
I absolutely adore Jeff's other books, Lean UX and, in particular, Sense & Respond. I was keen to explore his ideas on entrepreneurship, which is what this book is.
Maybe I'm not the target audience, but the content he shares felt somewhat basic to me. It was an engaging listen while I was covering too many miles on motorways, but it didn't reveal any ground-breaking insights for me. As Jeff explores the different dimensions to employability, he shares his own life story, his own experience - so there's proof this approach clearly worked for him.
If you're only just starting to think about self-employment, this is probably a good read to get you started but it doesn't feel much more substantial than that. Entrepreneurial You by Dorie Clark had more depth in my opinion.
Rating: 5/10. Get your copy here. Or listen to it like I did :)
Yvon Chouinard: Let My People Go Surfing
The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
Hands down the best book I read in 2022. It has had a profound impact on me and changed the way I think about business, social responsibility and right and wrong. It also forever replaced the meaning of "MBA" to me... from Master of Business Administration to Management By Absence. Now that is something to aspire to!!
The book basically tells the story of Patagonia and its founder, who really just wanted to be in nature, climb mountains and build things that had minimal impact on the very same environment he so enjoyed. Too many angles to cover in a couple of paragraphs but his desire to do things differently is applaudable. This guy looked at sustainable materials at a point where no suppliers knew how to produce them at scale. He provided day-care at work so his employees could thrive without the constant worry of childcare responsibilities. He investigated his supply chain and cleaned up working conditions before ESG was a thing. Because it is the right thing to do.
He has "taxed" Patagonia with a voluntary 1% Earth tax since 1985 and invests this money in support of local environmental activism groups. In 2018 he changed the company's purpose to "saving our home planet". And recently he made Earth Patagonia's only shareholder. Truly inspiring stuff. Read it. And be like him.
Rating: 10/10. Get your copy here. And then buy another one for a friend. Or listen to it. Or both.
The Ordered List
You guessed it. Yvon Chouinard: Let My People Go Surfing. 10/10
Matt Watkinson: The Grid. 10/10
Paul R. Niven and Ben Lamorte: Objectives and Key Results. 7/10
Rob Walker: Buying In. 3/10
Do you have any book recommendations that I should be adding to my list for 2023? What's your all-time favourite book? Share in the comments!
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