How to manage a team and yourself: 15 books for a project manager

The instructors of the Project management in IT course - managers from MegaFon, OneTwoTrip, Redmadrobot have compiled a list of books for the summer that will be useful for every project. Find out why a modern manager has an ancient military treatise, what are common between cats and developers, and where were the CEOs of General Motors and Zappos wrong?

Olga Drozd, Product Manager, MegaLabs (MegaFon)

Anthony Mersino, Yulia Gimatova Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers. Practical Guide "
A useful book not only for project managers, but also for everyone who works with people. After reading, you will understand how to communicate without conflict, control your emotions and begin to better understand others.

Sun Tzu "The Art of War"
A short but very informative book. Ancient military treatise that can be applied to personal development, and to the management team. She will help the project manager to see hidden benefits and understand when to act and what you need to pay attention to.

J. Hank Rainwater "How to graze cats"
A book for developers who lead other developers. From it you can find out what types of programmers are, how to behave with each of them, and how to ensure that you are listened to and performed the tasks assigned on time.

Fergus O'Connell “How to successfully manage projects. Silver bullet"
The author tells about the specifics of project management in IT. The book breaks the stereotype that such projects are more difficult to manage and easier to fill up. It is easy to read and contains many good examples and good leadership ideas.

Leonid Yevtushenko, Project Manager, OneTwoTrip

"Guide to the body of knowledge on project management (Guide PMBOK)". Fifth edition
The base, which is necessary for all project managers. For beginners - an excellent reference, and already practicing the book will help to replenish knowledge and structure existing ones.

David Ogilvy "Ogilvy about advertising"
This book is quite rare in people involved in project management. But I recommend it, because it teaches us to understand and determine the value of the product for users, as well as to think about its “packaging”.

Alfred Sloan "My Years at General Motors"
Tony Shay "Delivering happiness. From Zero to Billion
Both books are written by CEOs of large companies, in which they tell their stories and describe imperceptible at first glance errors. Through their experience, the authors reveal the reverse side of "obviously useful" solutions. These publications also help to understand how best to build long-term planning.

Robert Sutton "Do not work with m * daky"
Project managers book tells how best to build a team. It is worth reading it to everyone who works in the office: you learn to minimize the loss of nerve cells and understand how not to pay attention to the irritating factors that will always be.

Vilensky P.L., Livshits V.N., Smolyak S.A. “Evaluation of the effectiveness of investment projects. Theory and practice"
The book has many solutions for assessing the viability of projects. The authors also tell how to calculate the expected efficiency, possible risks and costs. Not the easiest to read material, but gives a good understanding of the topic.

Mikhail Kosenko, Head of Project Management, Redmadrobot

Books on the theory of limiting systems
Elia Goldratt "Critical Chain"
Lawrence Lich “On time and within budget. Critical Chain Project Management

Reading books is exactly in this order. Goldratt is very easy in perception, while allowing you to understand the basics of the critical chain method. It offers a very logical and even scientific approach to managing the project’s deadlines. The book came into my hands at the very beginning of the managerial path and allowed me to realize that planning and project management is a very systematic and interesting story.

After thinking about the book Goldratt, I recommend reading “On Time and Within Budget”, which not only tells in detail about the critical chain method, but also well reveals other aspects of project management (planning, risk management, etc.).

Kanban and Lean Manufacturing
James Wumek, Daniel Jones “Lean Manufacturing. How to get rid of losses and achieve prosperity of your company "
David Anderson "Kanban. Alternative way to agile »

“Lean production” is not about project management, but about continuous improvement in the quality of work. After reading this book, you will understand the basics of this approach and get acquainted with the philosophy of kaizen. Read it first, after - go to kanban.

Anderson’s book will introduce you to a kanban system, which you can quickly implement over the current management processes and immediately start getting tangible results. The author also talks about how to combine kanban with other approaches (for example, six sigma).

A series of books "One-minute Manager"
These books are very easy to read, they are small and written in an understandable language, while novice managers will be given an excellent basis for interacting with their subordinates. How to set the task? How to give feedback? How to make the tasks performed, and not return to you back?

You can learn how to apply knowledge in practice and personally communicate with speakers on the Project management in IT course. The closest will take place on June 23 and 24.