What I read in 2023 - Part 2

Aligning our reading goals to our personal goals is key

I had three large learning focuses for 2023. In addition to books on personal efficiencies and software development, which I also focused on in 2022, a large focus was on Stoicism. For more on the stoic books, check out last week’s post.

Below I dive into the personal efficiencies and software development books I read in 2023, such as ‘High Performance Habits’, ‘Deep Work’, ‘Smart Brevity’, and ‘Leading Lean’.

Curiously absent from my 2023 books were any books solely on leadership. I was shocked when I realized I had missed that category of books entirely last year. When we don’t align our efforts to our goals, we can easily stray from where we want to go.

Thinking statistically

This book was recomended by the ‘Personal MBA’ book I read in 2022. A fairly short read, it provides a useful introduction to statistics for the professional to use. Some key points from the book

  • Selection bias occurs when we select non-random data and treat it like it was random data. Selection Bias is very difficult to eliminate.
  • Models abstract out into equations how a system operates..
  • When presented with new evidence, we can leverage Bayes’ Theorem to help us change our beliefs.

Leading Lean

‘Leading Lean’ teaches how one can introduce lean concepts to any organization and the tools are can implement. This book was difficult to read as the author relied heavily on acronyms, many that they created and spelled out only once, which slowed comprehension. A sample chapter can be found at the publishers website if you’re interested in learning more.

Kanban

Often referred to as the blue Kanban book, this book dived deep into the mechanics of Kanban. I thought I was well versed in Kanban before reading this book and learned that there were many elements and nuances to Kanben that I was blind to, such as the concept of a ‘commitment point’, the point on a kanban board where the flow of work dicates that we’ve ‘committed’ to doing the work.

100 ways to improve your writing

Writing is a passion of mine, so I’ve sought out books on how to improve the craft of writing. This book provides a number of suggestions, many of which are reminders of good grammar or pointing out bad practices (such as the use of parentheses).

The book contains a few useful suggestions and checklists, but many of the ideas, such as utilizing writing exercises to improve your writing, are obvious.

Remote Team Interaction Workbook

Written by the same authors as Team Topologies, this book dives into techniques and practices for software development teams to work remotely. Given many development teams are working remotely part of the time, this book is useful aid for many teams while also serving as a quick intro or reminder on the Team Topology structure.

High Performance Habits

Through extensive surveys and interviews, the author has identified 6 habits that high performers follow. High Performers are those who can sustain high output over a long period of time. In doing so, they exhibit six habits, three personal and three social habits.

  • Personal Habits
    • Seek Clarity
    • Generate Energy
    • Raise Necessity
  • Social Habits
    • Increase Productivity
    • Develop Influence
    • Demonstrate Courage

The author then provides 3 key practices for each habit to help you implement the habit for yourself.

Looking over the list of habits and diving into the book, there is some overlap here with stoic philosophy. The author also frequently quotes stoics and others.

Full Steam Ahead

‘Full Steam Ahead’ explores what makes for a good vision and how to craft are on your own. An inspirational and compelling vision includes a clearly articulated purpose that explains why you are doing what you are doing. It includes a vivid picture of the future we are working towards, which tells us where our efforts lie. Finally, it includes the values we follow, which says how we will accomplish the vision.

Deep Work

Our ability to retain focus for long stretches of time is decreasing just when the value of thinking and working deeply on a task is becoming more important.

That is the premise of ‘Deep Work’ which lays out the value of being able to focus and work deeply while also providing strategies and tips on how to achieve deep work.

There are 4 key philosophies to Deep work

  • Monastic. Eschewing most if not all shallow work
  • Bimodal - Taking stretches of days, weeks, or even months at a time for deep work
  • Rhythmic-Develop a routine of deep work stretchus within a day
  • Journalistic-Using any possible time to go into deep work.

For most, monistic and bimodal are difficult or impossible to fit into their life. The journalistic is the most challenging to implement, as it requires strict discipline to use every short moment possible. This leaves rhythmic the most accessible approach to achieve deep work for most people.

Smart Brevity

When you write, keep your audience at the fore front. Place the most relevant information for them firsh, then provide more context below if they wish to read on.

That’s the main takeaway from smart Prefer more, check out my blog post on ‘Smart Brevity‘ or cheek out the book yourself.