A CTO’s job is never finished. In a rapidly evolving industry, it is challenging to stay on top of the latest information. Between leading teams and hitting deadlines, keeping up with the latest technological trends and leadership methodologies is difficult.
While reading blogs and newsletters can help, they provide high-level information without the depth needed to drive innovation. Conferences and networking events are difficult to cram into a busy calendar.
A book, on the other hand, is available on-demand when it fits your schedule — whether during your commute, at the gym or during those precious minutes relaxing before bed. To make the most of your reading time, we’ve curated a list of the best books every CTO should read.
Strategy & vision
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Peter Drucker
- Crossing The Chasm – Geoffrey A. Moore
- Hooked – Nir Eyal
- Lean Startup – Eric Ries
- ReWork – Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
- The First 90 Days – Michael Watkins
Technical
- Continuous Delivery – Jez Humble, David Farley
- Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug
- The Phoenix Project – Gene Kim, Kevin Behr
Team building
- Creating a Software Engineering Culture – Karl E. Wiegers
- Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams – Tom DeMarco, Tim Lister
- The Five Dysfunctions Of a Team – Patrick Lencioni
Financial
- HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers – Harvard Business Review
- Financial Intelligence – Karen Berman
Delivery
- Accelerate – Forsgren, Humble, Kim
- Driving Technical Change – Terrence Ryan
- Scaling Lean – Ash Maurya
- The Mythical Man-Month – Frederick Brooks
Communication & collaboration
General leadership
- The Effective Executive – Peter Drucker
- American Icon – Bryce Hoffman
- Attitude is Everything – Keith Harrell
- Dare to Lead – Brene Brown
- Developing the Leader within You – John Maxwell
- Good to Great – Jim Collins
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
Broadening your horizons
The books listed above will help improve your overall performance as a CTO and prepare you to be the best leader for your organization. But don’t stop there — these books include information on workplace psychology and team leadership that not only improves you as a CTO but helps you as a person and colleague.
Do you have additional suggestions that have helped shape your career? Share them with us in the comments sections!
