If you were on a deserted development island…

8 comments

Posted on 4th February 2008 by jeff in Startups

I was asked a deceptively simple question last week, “if you could buy your development team just 1 book, what would it be?”  After first thinking “that would make a dang fine interview question!”, I started to iterate through some of my fave titles on my bookshelf, err in my boxes (we recently moved).

First I thought of “PeopleWare”, a classic but not really what I’m looking for. Then I rattled through some of the Agile classics such as the “Lean” series by the Poppendeicks and some of Ken Schwaber’s Scrum books. Good but I don’t think so.

Pulling up a layer, maybe something architectural like Martin Fowler’s “Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture” or “Refactoring”? Also good but only 1 book!?!?! Ok let’s go for the “your code is your craft” approach.  I know! Mike Gunderloy’s “Coder to Developer” but it is a little .NET centric. What about “The Pragmmatic Programmer” by Hunt and Thomas? Yeah  you’re right, it’s getting long in the tooth.

Can I buy 2 or 3 books for the team? No? Ok then I need your help. What book would you buy and why? Blog about it or leave a comment and I’ll write up a summary of the results.

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8 Comments

  1. Jesse Rodgers says:

    I would get them The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t by Robert Sutton. Developers know how to code but do they know how to behave or how what they do or say effects people or deal with difficult people? It’s a great book.

    http://tinyurl.com/34kyxf

    4th February 2008 at 9:58 am

  2. Marc Bernard says:

    What is this “book” thing of which you speak? Seriously, though, the first place I usually head for technical answers is The Google.

    The most recent book our team bought was “Advanced Windows Debugging”. It’s one of those books you’re glad you have, but wish you didn’t need. For a good all-purpose book, I’d recommend “Rapid Development” – a little dated now, but full of too-close-to-home tidbits.

    4th February 2008 at 10:02 am

  3. jeff says:

    Jesse… good one.

    Marc… thanks, “Rapid Development” is on my shelf, haven’t read it in years but I remember it being good. “Code Complete” is another in a similar vein.

    4th February 2008 at 11:17 am

  4. Terry Goertz says:

    Hmmm, only one book? I would get the team “Software Project Survival Guide” (http://stevemcconnell.com/sg.htm).
    This book shows the other, often missed side of developing software; planning, executing, and shipping. I found the ‘bombs’ hit close to home on more then one occassion.

    4th February 2008 at 11:23 am

  5. s woodside says:

    Joel on Software. Not only useful, but also midly entertaining.

    Wait, actually, I’d probably get one of the big thicks ones like Peopleware because I know I’d be really bored….

    4th February 2008 at 12:23 am

  6. Robert Barlow-Busch says:

    I’m thinking something along the lines of the British SAS Survival Guide… But okay, more to your point. An island of developers might need an occasional reminder that the rest of the world still in fact exists, so I’d recommend Designing From Both Sides of the Screen.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/105-8698177-5558816?ie=UTF8&a=0672321513

    4th February 2008 at 10:46 am

  7. Jim Murphy says:

    I’d choose something with Mr. Bunny in it. http://www.mrbunny.com/.

    4th February 2008 at 10:12 am

  8. jeff says:

    Mr. Bunny is off my list due to this comment:
    “The author has considered a gloabal search-and-replace to substitute the latest buzzword for ActiveX. However, this would also involve editing the technical content of the book, and he has forgotten which page that was on.” though I would buy him a beer on my island.

    4th February 2008 at 2:21 pm

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