There are so many lists out there for software development, programming, etc that just go on and on. Here’s my attempt at a short list that touches on the tech but focuses on what software can do for people.

1. Fred Brooks’ No Silver Bullet. A succinct statement of ‘the problem of software’: complexity, conformity, invisibility, changeability. If you want more, follow it with Ben Moseley and Peter Marks’s Out of the Tarpit, Brooks’s Mythical Man Month, or Dijkstra’s EWD 1036.

2. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim’s Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps. Three authors, two subtitles, and 24 specific recommendations based on a bunch of research. 288 pages but a good chunk of that is a review of their methodology. Not much filler in here. Maybe follow it with Camille Fournier’s The Manager’s Path if you are figuring out how to handle not just tech but a team.

3. Alan Cooper’s The Inmates are Running the Asylum. Not everything we do with software should point to a specific goal – but a lot should, and Cooper helped make interaction design into a profession. You could follow with Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things or Giff Constable’s Talking to Humans.

4. David Maister’s Managing the Professional Service Firm. Ostensibly written for law firms, this book’s questions and insights can help you create more value for clients and work better with your team. You could also try Ian Cooper’s FT Guide to Business Development, Julie Konrath’s Snap Selling, or Jeff Thull’s Mastering the Complex Sale to tweak your sales brain.

5. Eric Ries’s The Lean Start Up. Okay, yes, this one is definitely veering into airport layover material. A lot of business is just about thinking, doing, and checking – and that’s basically what this book outlines. So yeah, it’s a great primer on product development. You could follow it with Ryan Singer’s Shape Up.

So, let’s call that five?