I’m often asked for book recommendations on various agile topics. There is no single best book to start with so I’m giving you a bunch of categories to pick from.
If you’re looking for recommendations on how we think or the human side of agile, see this other book list at Unconscious Agile. There will be some overlap between the two lists.
The categories themselves are not ordered. Pick the one that sounds most interesting and start there.
Note: I will update this list periodically
When will we be done?
- Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability (Daniel S. Vacanti) Digging deep into a variety of metrics in order to make better data-informed decisions.
- Actionable Agile Metrics, volume II (Daniel S. Vacanti) In this sequel to the book above, he digs into more advanced metrics.
- When Will It Be Done?: Lean-Agile Forecasting to Answer Your Customers’ Most Important Question (Daniel S. Vacanti) Focusing specifically on probabilistic forecasting to address the question “When will we be done?”
- Thinking Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman) One of the most cited books on this list. Although primarily a book on psychology, he gets into an excellent discussion of reference class forecasting and the biases that we have to overcome to make a successful forecast.
- Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction (Philip E. Tetlock, Dan Gardner) This fascinating book, dives into what we can learn from people who are unusually good at forecasting the future.
Probabilistic thinking and how to make better decisions
Although I didn’t intend to give one category to a single author, she really dominates this topic
- Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts (Annie Duke) A great introduction to probabilistic thinking. The author is a professional poker player who is as entertaining as she is knowledgeable on the topic. All her books are great.
- How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices (Annie Duke) This was intended as the workbook for Thinking in Bets, although it contains new content too. This is the practical part that reinforces all the theory in the first book.
- Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away (Annie Duke) This book focuses on a very specific kind of decision - when we should walk away. This is filled with stories and examples and tons of science.
Improving flow of value
- Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow (Dominica DeGrandis) Why aren’t we more productive than we are? Usually because of so many other distractions that grab our focus. This book dives into that topic, with practical solutions.
- Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations (Nicole Forsgren PhD, Jez Humble, Gene Kim) You’ve likely heard of DORA metrics. This is the science behind that.
- The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development (Donald G. Reinertsen) One of the definitive, and most highly cited, books on flowing work.