What I'm Reading

I thoroughly enjoy listening to the Engineering Leadership podcast on my hybrid work commute. The speakers and topics are great discussions on how to tackle some of the hardest (and common) problems engineering leaders deal with regularly. Toward the end of each episode, the hosts ask the guest what they’re reading. Usually it’s a leadership book or a tech blog. As a father of a 3 1/2 year old, I don’t get too many opportunities to read “grown up” books; so, here’s my list of surprisingly tech-relatable children books:

Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss #

Actual Story: Sam tries to convince someone to try Green Eggs and Ham.

Tech Leadership Story: The struggle of enterprise consulting trying to get that first evangelist user at a client.

Too Many Bunnies, by Tomie dePaola #

Actual Story: The 15 bunnies try to grow a radish garden but realize they can’t do it all at once.

Tech Leadership Story: The balancing act of parallelizing and serializing work streams to provide business value.

Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss #

Actual Story: A cat tries to entertain two kids during a rainy day but ends up making a mess. The kids tell him to leave and does (while also cleaning up his mess).

Tech Leadership Story: As a leader, not trying to take on all responsibilities. Also, learning to be brave, speak up, and say what you mean in difficult situations.

Rosie Revere, Engineer, by Andrea Beaty #

Actual Story: Rosie tries to make her aunt fly using materials around the house.

Tech Leadership Story: Creating a culture that celebrates failure and iterative development.

Ada Twist, Scientist, by Andrea Beaty #

Actual Story: Ada tries to understand where a stink comes from, with some unintended side effects.

Tech Leadership Story: Asking lots of questions to debug technical and process issues.

Milk and Cookies #

Actual Story: Baby bear dreams a dragon in the basement eats all the cookies in the house, but it’s really a wood furnace.

Tech Leadership Story: The importance of not jumping to conclusions. Also, sleep is important to make critical decisions.