Five Books You Must Read

The books that have most influenced me on my People Engineering journey.

I love reading newsletters, I love listening to podcasts, I love watching videos.

But there’s something special about reading a book. I think it’s the focus, the prolonged attention to a single theme, that can get under my skin me in a way that shorter form content cannot.

I have been influenced by many books in many different areas, but today I thought I would share the five (plus a bonus two) that have meant the most to me as a People Engineer. Hopefully some of them inspire you in the same way they inspired me!

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team & The Advantage

Patrick Lencioni is one of the best thinkers on organisational health. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is a parable about the different ways a leadership team can fail, and what to do about it. The Advantage is a kind of companion guide to Five Dysfunctions, giving practical tips on how to create a high-functioning team.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team on Goodreads.

The Advantage on Goodreads.

No Rules Rules & Powerful

Netflix has one of the most intentionally designed and well-articulated cultures of any large company. Personally, I feel it is one that is worth emulating. Regardless, you will learn a lot about how to think about building an organisational culture and the different types of tradeoffs that the culture embodies.

Powerful was written by Patty McCord, formerly head of People & Culture at Netflix. No Rules Rules was written by Reid Hastings, Founder and CEO of Netflix. They’re both good, and there’s quite a lot of overlap. You’ll do fine reading either.

No Rules Rules on Goodreads.

Powerful on Goodreads.

Working Backwards

While I look up to Netflix on culture, Amazon is the tech company that I admire the most in terms of process and operations. From six-pagers and PRFAQs, to two-pizza teams, single-threaded leaders, and more, Amazon has codified a scalable approach to making decisions about and building products and businesses. Working Backwards is written by two early execs at Amazon and is an enlightening walk through how Amazon does things.

Working Backwards on Goodreads.

What You Do is Who You Are

A book about corporate culture, which for case studies uses that Haitian Slave Revolt, the code of the Samurai, and a prison gang! Entertaining, thought provoking, and genuinely useful. From Ben Horowitz, founder of legendary VC firm Andreesen Horowitz (a16z).

What You Do is Who You Are on Goodreads.

Measure What Matters

The classic book about OKRs by John Doerr. OKRs are a slippery beast, and mastering them is an important part of building a high performance, scalable organisation. This book is a good, accessible guide to what OKRs are, why they can be so powerful, and how to make them not suck

Measure What Matters on Goodreads.

Check it Out: The Startup Podcast

My podcast with Chris Saad continues to publish a new episode each week. To make it easier for you to get into it, here is a selection of episodes that most relate to the topic of People Engineering:

Organisational Design - Hiring your way out of incompetence.

Finding and Hiring Talent - Always Be Closing.

Scale-up Execution Overview - Avoiding Founder Sabotage

The Founder Journey - Building the Thing that Builds the Thing

What Are Your Favourite Books?

Share your favourites in the comments!