The agile Manager’s reading list – Teal Unicorn
This reading list on new ways of managing is taken from our books The agile Manager (small a) and Open Management, and further updated here.
The Amazon links here are paid links, you support us when you use them, so thank-you.
Most of us don’t read any more, so go here for video and other online resources.
Here’s our Vietnamese reading list Đọc sách bằng tiếng việt – Nhà Quản lý linh hoạt
These ones are pretty much mandatory reading:
Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux . Amazon
This is the classic that popularised the idea of higher social consciousness in the organisation – Don’t miss the Foreword by Ken Wilber
Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan. This may be the best introductory book of all. . . Amazon
Humanocracy, Gary Hamel, Michele Zanini. A must read on work culture and better ways. Bureacracy kills work. The alternative is humanocracy . . Amazon
A Radical Enterprise, Matt K. Parker . . Amazon
Inverting the organisation to be “radically collaborative”
That feeling when you spend a year writing a book because you think there aren’t enough around like it, then keep finding some quite similar. We don’t think our book is better, only (a little) different. You tell us.
You can read any or all of these books to cover the same area we do, each from a different perspective. The only one of these books that we read before we finished writing The agile Manager was Dan’s:
The Culture Game, Daniel Mezick. Dan is one of our thought leaders. These are patternsfor building learning culture, seen through a lens of game principles. . Amazon
Management 3.0, Jurgen Appelo. Another classic of agile management, from a software perspective but completely general. . . Amazon
The Leader’s Dilemma, Hope, Bunce, and Roosli. Building a new management model – comes from the “Beyond Budgeting” community. . . Amazon
Agile Management, Mike Hoogveld. This time through the continuous improvement lens, how to be fastand flexible in a VUCA world . . . Amazon
Directing the Agile Organisation, Evan Leybourn. Takes a structural and process approach iuspired by Lean principles . . . Amazon
Sooner Safer Happier, Jonathan Smart et al. It presents a humanistic view of people empowerment . Amazon
…and the following are all books about human, systems, or agility worth reading. Loosely in descending recommended order for a manager to read them.
How Complex Systems Fail, Dr Richard Cook
– a brief paper readable online, or you can find it as downloadable PDF. Mandatory reading.
Slack, Tom DeMarco, 2000 . Amazon
No More Feedback, Carol Stanford . . Amazon
Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change, April Rinne . . Amazon
Nine Lies About Work, Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall . . Amazon
Team of Teams, Stanley McChrystal . Amazon
Beyond Command and Control, John Seddon, 2019. Read at least the first half. . . Amazon
High Output Management, Andrew Grove . Amazon
The Open Organization, Jim Whitehurst. . . Amazon
Turn the Ship Around, L David Marquet . Amazon
Why Agile Works, Michael De La Maza, David Benz . Amazon
The Age of Agile, Steve Denning . Amazon
The Field Guide to Understanding ‘Human Error’, Sidney Dekker . Amazon
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman . Amazon
Thinking in Systems, Daniela Meadows
The Lean Startup, Eric Ries . Amazon
Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organisations, Harrison Owen
– available for download at www.openspaceworld.com
Inviting Leadership, Daniel Mezick and Mark Sheffield . Amazon
Lead Together, Brent Lowe, Susan Basterfield, Travis Marsh . Amazon
Cynefin framework, Dave Snowden
– A website not a book cognitive-edge.com
Toyota Kata, Mike Rother . Amazon
Tribes, Seth Godin . Amazon
Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide, Harrison Owen . Amazon
Making Work Visible, Dominica Degrandis . Amazon
The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande . Amazon
How Knowledge Workers Get Things Done, ed. Layna Fischer . Amazon
Lean Enterprise, Humble, Molesky, O’Reilly . Amazon
Out of the Crisis, J.Edwards Deming . Amazon
The New Economics, J.Edwards Deming . Amazon
The Future of Management, Gary Hamel . Amazon
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni . Amazon
The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge . Amazon
Organize for Complexity, Niels Pflaeging . Amazon
The Goal, Eli Goldratt . Amazon
Start With Why, Simon Sinek . Amazon
Antifragile, Nicholas Taleb . Amazon
(warning: I find Taleb unreadable)
Mastering the Unpredictable, Keith Swenson
Joy, Inc., Richard Sheridan
First Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
Finite and Infinite Games, James P. Carse
Game On! Change is Constant, Karen Ferris
Dialogue, William Isaac
The High-Velocity Edge, Dr Steven Spear
Product Development Flow, Don Reinertsen
Freedom from Command and Control, John Seddon
Systemantics. The Systems Bible, John Gall
Plus! The Standard+Case approach, Rob England
