Book Club Articles
Why We Started Book Clubs at Work
We started book clubs at SEP over a decade ago. Since then, we’ve had over 100 book clubs, with more than 75% of the company participating in at least one book club! Book clubs have been such an integral part of SEP’s group learning for a long time – how did this happen anyways? Why […]
5 Books You Should Read Before You Start Your First Job In Software Engineering
Traditionally, students get only a small taste of the industry before graduating. You may find yourself chugging coffee at 3 am before a deadline; a hard lesson on project pacing. Perhaps you, a team leader, has to deal with a colleague upset about the balance of project work. Despite these experiences, you’ll surely be learning […]
Reading Lately — Teams, Orgs, and Vision
Previously I shared my “Reading Lately” list with a few books about motivation. Each publication from that list is still relevant in my thoughts, actions, and discussions with others at SEP. This time I am sharing 4 books that have greatly influenced the way I think about working collaboratively with people — whether on a […]
SEP Book Classics
SEP Book Classics – What’s that? Well, good question. SEP Book Classics started from a discussion in an Appreticeship Patterns book club at SEP. Our group was discussing how to help new members to the company gain a shared language/knowledge of many of the books that we’ve read at SEP. The problem then, was to […]
Book Review: Predicting the Unpredictable – Pragmatic approaches to estimating project schedule or cost by Johanna Rothman
Synopsis On every software project I’ve worked on, I’ve been asked two questions: “How much does it cost?” and “When will it be done?” Given enough experience on software projects, one would think this question would be easy to answer. The author explains why she thinks this is so hard. One reason she mentions is […]
Building a Better Book Group
A little while back, there was a discussion around SEP about how to best keep track of the books we read for our own professional development. Notably, how to share our thoughts and reviews in an easy-to-use way. We had a solution, but in order to avoid swearing, we won’t talk about it now. We […]
Book Review: Scrum Mastery: From Good to Great Servant Leadership
Having recently begun acting as Scrum Master for an 8 developer off-site team with with several hundred active project members, I thought it a wise idea to more formally read up on the traits and aspects that make a Scrum Master great (or even good for that matter). Before I get into my personal reflection […]
The Optimistic Employee Owner
During a recent “blog-battle” here at SEP, we took on the topic of “The Optimistic [insert role here]“. So I’m going to take a little liberty and talk about why I’m an optimistic employee owner. For those not aware, SEP is a 100% ESOP (as of spring 2010). This has some nifty benefits such as […]
3Q Book Review: Persuasive Business Proposals
Persuasive Business Proposals by Dr. Tom Sant What’s the point? The point of this book is to write clearly and concisely, to differentiate yourself, and to better equip yourself with tools for writing persuasively. Ultimately, this book is designed to help you and your company write winning proposals. How was it? Good. I honestly felt […]
Rocket Surgery Really is Easy!
I just finished reading Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug (perhaps you know him from his other book Don’t Make Me Think). Here’s what I thought. What’s the point? Learn how to do usability testing yourself to gain most of the benefits of hiring someone to do it and lose most of the negatives […]
Book Review – The Toyota Way – Jeffrey Liker
What’s the point? This book focuses on Toyota’s manufacturing process and the Lean attributes. The book takes you through the philosophy and the bare bones implementation of the production models and practices that make the Toyota Way sustainable in other companies. The interesting point of the book was that there were many companies claiming to […]
Book Review – Coaching for improved work performance – Ferdinand Fournies
What’s the point? This book focuses on the idea that you can get better performance out of employees through positive coaching. Rarely do negative actions result in anything other than fear and poor performance. The book gives techniques and tips for improving performance and tackling potential problems. Strategies are presented for dealing with employees that […]