Hello!
Recently a colleague had remarked that I’m going through quite a few books at the moment and asked for some recommendations. So the logical thing to do is of course write a blog post about books that I’ve read or listened to and share it.
Since I’m running more and taking the baby for walks before and after work as a faux commute I’ve had plenty of time to soak in information, so in no particular order I recommend the following books and resources that could help entertain and inform over the summer months.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The Carnegie classic - there’s nothing here that hasn’t been said before multiple times by millions of people by now. Whilst you may be perfectly content with your lot this book is good read to understand how to appeal to others outside your typical circle. Listen with empathy is a lesson learned from this book which pays off no matter how selfish your motive may be.
Sprint
I’ve been revisiting this following reading it, listening to it and reading it again repeatedly. How do you work towards a moonshot? Breaking it down into loads of pieces and tackling a problem in a quick and dirty way. Learning from the experiences of the Google team and their approach to solving problems has benefited me immensely. This inspired the short lived design sprint team: Thunderbird 2 and helped me grapple with solving big problems in small teams, I’ve even delivered a talk about my experience with design sprints. Move fast and test things!
48 Laws of Power
Now we get a little darker, this book lays out human relationships and it’s clearly got a Machiavellian bent. What I got from this book was understanding how humans try to manipulate each other beyond blunt brute force. The chapters are snappy and I don’t really think there are 48 full laws, if we’re looking at a venn diagram, there’s definitely some muddiness, however I recommend having a look to see if they can ascertain value - maybe a scooch across to the Wikipedia page. Just because things are written with an insidious purpose doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them.
Hit Refresh
The leader of Microsoft speaks about the transition of 00s Microsoft to a whole new company. Working in government I saw many similarities to the journey Nadella has taken his team through and the digital transformation of government services. I was surprised by how much I warmed to Nadella, his story is incredibly personable and he shares how his personal circumstances and experiences have directly impacted his management style. It’s a must read for understanding what drives people to work together to change course and vision for a massive organisation.
Because Internet
This book was like a four foot lemon sherbert to the face (like dissolved and nice, not a four foot lemon brick). Learning about internet etymology and how we communicate in the modern era is brilliant, and this is hands down one of the funniest and most relatable books I’ve devoured in years. Highly recommended, I have the audiobook and hardback and honestly, hearing the author read the emojis is a joy in itself. Learning about how humans interact with each other and machines via the ever evolving language used on the Internet is fascinating, funny and I can’t recommend it enough.
Nudge
A book I read during my Masters which has stayed with me since. Yes it’s economics, but it’s behavioural economics and it has influenced product development, policy implementation and design for years. The authors later went on to win the Nobel prize and you can see why. This book explains how small changes can create big changes down the line for the betterment of society or at least in theory. Yes it opens with a story about pissing on a fly at a urinal and it’s such a simple example of how a tiny nudge can yield huge changes.
Steve Jobs
I include this as an interesting retrospective on the life of the Apple co-founder and silicon valley deity. One thing that I find working in product development is the canonisation of Jobs and the assumption that the way to develop great products is to be a bit of a prick. This book outlines Jobs’ journey and his philosophy and shows his dedication to perfectionism. Jobs did have asshole traits but he was also committed to developing products and experiences that changed the world - understanding user motivations.
Good Services
I’m currently reading this book at the moment but so far I’m wholly onboard with Downe and her approach. Using guiding principles and service design instead of being prescriptive this book is a must read for those in product and service development. I’m sure I’ll be tweeting lots about this book in the next few weeks and potentially holding it up to my webcam on meetings.
Random resources
So there’s a starter smattering of things I’d recommend to read over the next few months, there’s other things I do that I think helps me in my work including Spotify playlists, audiobooks, white noise and of course old 90s talk radio. Yep, there’s something satsifying listening to paranormal talk radio - I know it’s odd, but it’s kinda sweet.