Concurrent Programming in Java: Design Principles and Pattern (2nd Edition) - Doug Lea.

Concurrency: State Models & Java Programs (2nd Edition) - Jeff Magee and Jeff Kramer.

Rapid Development - Steve McConnell

Talking With Tech Leads - Patrick Kua

Software By Numbers: Low-Risk High-Return Development - Mark Denne & Jane Cleland-Huang
 

कुछ अजीबसा रिश्ता है उसके और मेरे दरमिया

न नफरतकी वजह मिल रही है न मोहब्बतका सिला

(Source: poetrytadka.com)

Elementary

I must admit that a female Dr. Watson felt a bit strange, if not downright scandalous, in the beginning. I rather came to like the change in the character. But I haven't been feeling too happy about the plot of her thinking of adopting a child. A solid experience of watching numerous Hindi movies tells me that there will be at least one future case in which the child will be kidnapped to be used as a bargaining chip or a fair exchange for an exorbitant ransom amount. I, for one, am definitely not looking forward to such a scenario.

Till now, there hasn't been much of a development on this front. But I have a hunch that this season will end with the arrival of a baby in the Brownstone. If that happens I won't watch future seasons. Given that Sherlock has expressed the desire to help raise the child as Watson's friend, I shudder at the thought of seeing him changing the diapers.

I am sure poor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must be dizzy from turning in his grave :-)

Recently I have been reading a lot of books on project management and various technologies. Just now I finished reading 'Agile Coaching' by Rachel Davies & Liz Sedley. It added a lot of new techniques to my knowledge base like e.g. Pingpong programming, Inch-Pebbles, Pomodore technique, Given-When-Then way of writing test cases & The ROTI method. There were useful practical tips on how to facilitate meetings, resolve conflicts and give constructive feedback. Plus it gave a huge list of other books that I can read. I couldn't, obviously, get my hands on all of them immediately so I have made a note of the titles in an earlier post on this blog.

Already looking forward to the next book on my reading list :-)

Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins. Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to Do Instead.

Esther Derby. “How to Talk About Work Performance: A Feedback Primer.”

Ferdinand F. Fournies. Coaching for Improved Work Performance.

Sam Kaner. The Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making

Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Team: Creating the High-Performance Organization.

Patrick Lencioni. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable.

Johanna Rothman. “Successful Software Management: Fourteen Lessons Learned.”

Charles Seashore, Edith Seashore, and Gerald M. Weinberg. What Did You Say? The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback.

Brian R. Stanfield. The Workshop Book: From Individual Creativity to Group Action (Ica Series)

Robert R. Blake and Jane Srygley Mouton. The Versatile Manager:A Grid Profile

Daniel Feldman. The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Workplace Coaching.

Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton. Getting to Yes, Second ed.

Johanna Rothman. “Practice, a Necessary Part of Change.” Cutter IT Email Advisorory, February 2002.

Gerald M. Weinberg. The Secrets of Consulting

Gerald M. Weinberg. Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-Solving Approach.

Mary Albright and Clay Carr. 101 Biggest Mistakes Managers Make.

Sidney J. Chapman. “Hours of Labour.” Economic Journal

Robert Cialdini. “Perplexing Problem? Borrow Some Brains.” Harvard Management Communication Letter, August 2004.

Sumantra Ghoshal Heike Bruch. “What Your Weekly Meetings Aren’t Telling You.” Harvard Business Review, volume 80(2), February 2002.

Patrick J. McKenna and David H. Maister. First among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals

Johanna Rothman. Corrective Action for the Software Industry.

Peter Senge. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.

Gerald M. Weinberg. Quality Software Management: Volume 1, Systems Thinking.

XP Universe. Brokering With eXtreme Programming

David L. Bradford and Allen R. Cohen. Managing for Excellence: The Guide to Developing High Performance in Contemporary Organizations.

Clay Carr. The New Manager’s Survival Guide: All the Skills You Need for Success, 2nd Edition.

Stephen R. Covey. Principle-Centered Leadership

Tom DeMarco. Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency.

Esther Derby. “How to Talk About Work Performance: A Feedback Primer.” Crosstalk, pages 13–16, December 2003.

Esther Derby. “A Real Go-Getter.” STQE, volume 5(4), September 2004.

Gerald W. Faust, Richard I. Lyles, and Will Phillips. Responsible Managers Get Results: How the Best Find Solutions—Not Excuses.

Linda A. Hill. Becoming a Manager: How New Managers Master the Challenge of Leadership.

Naomi Karten. Communication Gaps and How to Close Them.

Steve McConnell. Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules.

Gerald M. Weinberg. Quality Software

Gerald M. Weinberg. Quality Software Management, Volume 3:Congruent Action

Gene Fellner, editor. Unreported and Upaid Overtime: Distorted Measurements and Formulas for Failure.

Joan Magretta and Nan Stone. What Management Is: How It Works and Why It’s Everyone’s Business.

Johanna Rothman. “Successful Software Management: Fourteen Lessons Learned.”

Edward de Bono. De Bono’s Thinking Course, Revised Edition.

Jean McLendon. “The Internal Dialogue in the Consulting Process"

Johanna Rothman. Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies, and Nerds: The Secrets and Science of Hiring Technical People.

Joel Spolsky. Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, and Managers, and to Those Who, Whether by Good Fortune or Ill Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity. Apress, Berkeley, CA, 2004.

Lou Adler. Hire with Your Head: Using Power Hiring to Build Great Companies.

Michael Bolton. “Are You Ready?” STQE, pages 50–54, May 2003.

W. Steven Brown. Thirteen Fatal Errors Managers Make and How You Can Avoid Them

Esther Derby. “Climbing the Learning Curve: Practice with Feedback.” Insights, 2002. Fall.

Peter Drucker. Managing for Results. Pan Books, London, 1964.

Tom Janz, Lowell Hellerik, and David C. Gilmore. Behavior Description Interviewing.

Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Jr. Waterman. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies.

Johanna Rothman. Corrective Action for the Software Industry.

Ship It!: A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects - Jared Richardson and Will Gwaltney

Kent Beck. Extreme leadership: Celebrate accomplishment.

Kent Beck. Implementation Patterns

Edward De Bono. Six Action Shoes

Dale H. Emery. Resistance as a resource

Michael Feathers. Working Effectively with Legacy Code.

Frederick Herzberg. The Motivation to Work

Irving L. Janis. Group Think

Norman L. Kerth. Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews

Alfie Kohn. Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes

Craig Larman and Bas Vodde. Scaling Lean and Agile Development

Robert C. Martin. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising. Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas

Dan North. Behavior modification. Better Software

Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck. Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash.

David Rock. Quiet Leadership

Marshall Rosenberg. Nonviolent Communication: a Language of Life.

William C. Wake. Refactoring Workbook

Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World - Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt

Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management - Johanna Rothman