Technology Executive Reading List

This is a list of readings (and watchings) for technology executives.

Preamble

As time passes, sometimes technical people (such as software engineers and data scientists), (either explicitly or implicitly) take on management or leadership roles.

Some technical people even start off with hybrid roles, that combine the technical with management or leadership; even if it is implicit and "unofficial".

And while management and leadership are not the same things (desipte many managers inaccurately asserting that they are) engineering & science and management & leadership are different skills.

But those are skills that can be learnt.

This is a curated list of readings (and watchings) that (in the opinion of the curator of this list) can help one in learning some of those skills.

Of course, not everything can be learnt by reading.

Some things you need to learn through first-hand experience. Through making your own mistakes. And sometimes through suffering.

The purpose of this document is not to present you with a list of everything you need to know.

This document is an opinionated list from someone who became very very technical, but who has also (both explicitly and implicitly) took on management and leadership roles.

YMMV.

Audience

This document is targeted at technical people who take on management or leadership roles.

This includes technical people who are not "officially" recognized, as taking on that role, with a title.

But when it is "officially" recognized with a title, titles such as the following are the ones I am aware of being sometimes used: chief technology officer (CTO), chief science officer (CSO), chief information officer (CIO), senior vice president (SVP) of technology, senior vice president (SVP) of engineering, senior vice president (SVP) of data science, vice president (VP) of technology, vice president (VP) of engineering, vice president (VP) of data science, director of technology, director of engineering, director of data science, technical director (TD), engineering manager, staff software engineer, staff data scientist, lead software engineer, lead data scientst, etc.

Topics

There are many topics that are of interest to those who are engaging in management or leadership.

It can benefit you to understand humans. Both because you will work with them; and because they will be your users or customers.

In some ways this (understanding humans) is a hard thing to do for many. And not necessarily because the topic is hard.

But more because you have to try to make yourself see the world as it actually is, rather than how you might prefer it be; regardless of how that makes you feel.

It can also benefit you to understand how learning happens.

The following is a list of topics of interest, in alphabetical order.

(And note, I don't necessarily agree with everything claimed in every paper, book, article, or video listed here. But something being listed here means I find at least part of it relevant.)