Books in the age of AI

These books are what I'd recommend to anyone who wants to build great software.

Staff Engineer - Leadership beyond the management track

• Conways Law applies everywhere -  "Organisations design systems that mirror their own communication structure"
• Become glue through "alignment". Your job as a staff-level engineer is to get alignment within an organisation to get things done as well as being a domain and architecture expert.
• Leverage points that require extra care in any project that have an ROI are Interfaces, State, and Data Models

The Manager's Path

• Setting technical direction is one of the most important things in the life of a tech lead. Learning how to do it well requires skill. Relationship building is a practice, not an art.
• One of the best skills to learn is to learn to say no in a nice way - eg "Yes, and....". Set expectations early.
• Time Management is the biggest changes when you are in a lead capacity. Maker time and manager time are a critical part of a leaders role. Block out time for both.

The Phoenix Project

• My biggest reflection on reading this book was the quote by André Gide - "Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.". There were situational scenarios that gave some very relevant experience.
• A great overview of the importance of governance in action - and how to do it well. I think this book will stand the test of time with its relevance. It covers how to establish visibility.
• This book, while it definitely felt written before the SaaS-pocalypse, had a few situational examples that I've encountered as a leader and thought - "Oh, that's what I should have done".

In addition to this, three books on my shelf that I've started and not yet finished are

• Domain Driven Design
• Fundamentals of Software Architecture