Scratching An Itch

Tag: books

  • Business of Software Europe 2019

    Last week I attended my the Business of Software Europe conference. This year the conference returns to Cambridge after a few years in Dublin and London.

    This year the conference logo is the black squirrel, which is apparently a genetic mutation local to Cambridge.

    As usual, an excellent conference with a wide range of topics and an interesting mix of speakers. I’m not going to go into detail on the talks, other folks will have already written them up in more detail than my sparse notes will allow. If you’re interested in high level strategic thought about how to run a software business, this is the conference for you.

    But I did make a note of every book that a speaker or attendee mentioned.

    Let It Go, by Dame Stephanie ‘Steve’ Shirley CH. This book was provided to all attendees by the conference.

    Art of Profitability, by Adrian Slywotzky

    Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

    The Games People Play, by Eric Berne

    Rest, by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

    What Got You Here Wont Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith

    Skin In The Game, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    Let My People Go Surfing, by Yvon Chouinard

    This Is Marketing, by Seth Godin

    Clean Code, by Robert C. Martin

    Building A Story Brand, by Donald Miller

    11 Laws Of Showrunning, (PDF) by Javier Grillo-Marxuach . Also a podcast.

    Powerful, by Patty McCord

    The Art of Product Management, by Rich Mironov

    What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard, by
    Mark H. McCormack

    Chimp Paradox, by Professor Steve Peters

    The Manager’s Path, Camille Fournier

    Radical Candor, by Kim Scott

    Badass, by Kathy Sierra

    Purple Cow, by Seth Godin

    Film: Free Solo

    Video: Steve Jobs marketing talk

    Metcalfe’s Law, as the number of people rises, the number of connections gets out of control.

    Conway’s Law, your designs are constrained by your communication structures. This graphic captures it all. Note the Microsoft graphic.

    Guest posts

    No, we’re not interested in having a guest post about unrelated topics like gambling or pornography.

    Original post

    This post was originally published 18 April 2019 on the softwareverify.com blog. We moved this post to this dedicated domain 21 April 2025.

  • Business of Software Europe 2018

    Last week I attended the Business of Software Europe 2018 conference, in London, United Kingdom. It’s a great conference, for people building sustainable software businesses. If you’re trying to create the next Instagram, this is not the conference for you. If you are trying to make your own mark on the world, carve out a future for yourself, this is probably the place to be.

    I’m not going to try to write up a series of actionable points taken from the conference. That would take too long, and anyway, those are points relevant to me, which may not work for you. All I can say is that it’s a great conference, with a good community of attendees and no Jupiter class egos. You do usually need a pair of strong sunglasses to deal with Mark Littlewood’s shirts, but it’s a small price to pay. More women and more non-white people each year. Diversity is a good thing. I wish it wasn’t over so soon.

    The following books were recommended by speakers at Business of Software Europe 2018

    Collective Genius, by Linda Hill
    Deep Work, by Cal Newport
    Drive, by Dan Pink
    The Progress Principle, by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer
    Failed It!, by Erik Kessels
    Corporate Startup, by Tendayi Viki
    The First Game of Business, Jack Stack
    The Coaching Habit, by Michael Bungay Stamer
    Work Rules, by Laszlo Bock
    Turn the Ship Around!, by David Marquet

    The following resources were recommended by speakers at Business of Software Europe 2018

    Manager Talks podcast
    Product Culture newsletter
    Project Aristotle Building better teams through psychological safety

    Guest posts

    No, we’re not interested in having a guest post about unrelated topics like gambling or pornography.

    Original post

    This post was originally published 26 May 2018 on the softwareverify.com blog. We moved this post to this dedicated domain 21 April 2025.