Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Phase transition
Sorry for the recent lack of posts, but I actually had no idea of anything relevant to write! I'm in deep study in this period because I'm going to change job at the end of august. After 7 years closed in the JRC spent researching and developing the Reconstructor, I'm going to breathe the sparkling hot air in the battlefield of commercial applications. I hope it won't melt me.
Now I understand that a blog to be successful has to be well focused first and then updated frequently. And I've decided that I'm going the Agile & 3D way, definitely.
So, along with fine tuning my internet marketing skills ;) I'm reading a lot of books to build up my planning and management skills.
Here are the books in my current portfolio. I have rated the books I've already read as: interesting, useful, must have. This is my current rating though...
Books I keep using:
* Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
* Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
* The C++ Programming Language
* Exceptional C++: 47 Engineering Puzzles, Programming Problems, and Solutions
* Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied
Books I've read recently:
* Practices of the Agile programmer
* The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
* How to Mind Map
* Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
* The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
* Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
* Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder
* Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons In Life
* Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
* The Goal
Books I'm reading:
* Agile Estimating and Planning
* Ship it! A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects
* Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management
* Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
* Wikipatterns
Backlog of books:
* Mastering CMake 4th Edition
* Working Effectively with Legacy Code
* The Art of Agile Development
* Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews
* Refactoring to Patterns
* Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project
* Refactoring in Large Software Projects: Performing Complex Restructurings Successfully
* Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems
* Finance for Non-Financial Managers
* slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
* JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
Phew!!! It amazes me to see that list, if you think that at school I was't able to finish a single book! I would have get bored halfway through... but that's another story...
So these are some of my intellectual resources that I rely on to start my new journey. If you have suggestions, you're welcome!
I was thinking about keeping a private diary about my successes and failures in adopting agile and management practices. A sort of retrospective of what i did, in order to force me an objective view. Then I thought, why don't post it in the blog? If someone can find it useful too and contribute with feedback... the better!
