I might have learned more in 2024 than any previous year of my life. I learned so much about parenting, friendship, leadership, technology, myself, and the world around me. Some were hard lessons, others easy, but all useful.

For the seventeenth straight year, I’m writing up a recap of annual highlights, including recaps of the few dozen books I finished.

Things I Wrote (or Said)

I maintained my daily reading list, with 226 entries in 2024. I’ll plan on keeping it up in 2025, as it’s proving useful in helping me stay up to date on what matters and I like sharing what I learn.

In 2024, I also had the pleasure of co-writing and co-delivering the Google Cloud Next developer keynote.

I also wrote a couple papers for Google Cloud. One was about developer productivity, and the other focused on what’s needed for an AI platform.

At the start of 2024, I took over writing the weekly “Overwhelmed Person’s Guide to Google Cloud” newsletter which goes to hundreds of thousands of folks each week before being posted on our blog. This year, I may bring in more guest editors to share the load!

For the past four years, I’ve also written a weekly internal Google Cloud newsletter. This year I added another 69,000 words over 40+ editions.

In terms of public blog posts, these were a few I was particularly pleased with:

• Customizing AI coding suggestions using the best code, not just my code. I played around this year with some tools and techniques for getting personalized suggestions from my preferred AI coding Assistant, Gemini Code Assist. See this one too.
• 4 ways to pay down tech debt by ruthlessly removing stuff from your architecture. I haven’t seen many folks talk about this approach to reducing tech debt, so I took a swing at it.
• More than serverless: Why Cloud Run should be your first choice for any new web app. I like multi-purpose platforms more than single use platforms. Even after all these years, Cloud Run is underrated.
• Here’s what I’d use to build a generative AI application in 2024. The AI tools landscape changes daily, but these still seem like relevant categories to consider.
• How I’d use generative AI to modernize an app. Yup, lots of AI stuff this year because it matters and is the most interesting thing to happen in tech over the past decade+.

Things I Read

I finished 43 books last year, across a wide range of topics. The items I choose come from recommendations, references in other books I read, or even just randomly browsing the Kindle store. Here are some of my favorites.

The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of André the Giant by by Bertrand Hébert and Pat Laprade. Andre the Giant had a wild life. I loved watching wrestling as a kid, and knew him as a baddie. This book offered up a wonderful look at his life and impact. Seemed like a sweet guy!

Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Stephen E. Ambrose. Surprisingly, this was one of my favorite books of the year. I accompanied my daughter on a field trip to Sacramento to learn more about early California. That resulted in me picking up this book. Maybe the greatest achievement of the 19th century? Amazing work.

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do by Tom Vanderbilt. We spend a lot of time in our cars. It’s the most complex thing most of us do every day, without realizing it. This book explores some of the psychology of driving, along with lots of fun examples from around the world.

Genghis: Bones of the Hills: A Novel (Conqueror series Book 3) by Conn Iggulden. The first three books in this series were outstanding. I’m still hooked on historical fiction, and this one gives a page-turning look at the Mongol army of Genghis Khan.

Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders by Jennifer Garvey Berger. You don’t solve complex problems the same way you solve complicated ones. The author does a great job helping us work better in complex environments.

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (Vol. 1) by Ian W. Toll. Someone recommended this series to me after last year’s annual recap. i’m glad they did. SO GOOD. This was some of the best content on the Pacific front of WW II I’ve ever read. This period covers Pearl Harbor through Midway. Engaging and informative.

The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Vol. 2) by Ian W. Toll. Here’s the second one in the series which picked up as the Allies fought the Japanese island-by-island. This was just as compelling as the first. I’ve already started reading the 3rd and final book in the series.

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable…About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business by Patrick M. Lencioni. These books are always quick to read, and I learn something. This “fable” tracks a company’s struggles, and offers up a re-think on what meetings to have at work. I incorporated a few things in my own routine after reading this.

Return of the God Hypothesis: Breakthroughs in Physics, Cosmology, and Biology Seeking Evidence for the Existence of God by Stephen C. Meyer. Such an interesting read! Meyer gives us a science lesson that looks at the beginning of the universe, the fine-tuned characteristics for life, and the amazing biological machines in our bodies.

Quarterdeck by Julian Stockwin. I’ve kept up with this series of books about seafaring in the 19th century. This was another good one, and I enjoy the characters, the locations, and the rich plots. I also recognize that I would have someone died four minutes into one of these journeys.

The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester. Wow, I actually didn’t realize this was historical fiction until I was a quarter of the way into the book. What a tense, enjoyable read about a convoy of ships trying to cross the Atlantic while avoiding U-Boats.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman. You know the movie. Have you read the book? I had not. You won’t be disappointed. It differs slightly from the movie, but the characters are all there, and the story itself is well told.

The Long Haul: A Trucker’s Tales of Life on the Road by Finn Murphy. I’ve often thought that “mover” would be the worst job I could have. All that work, and then you don’t get to enjoy it? No thanks. But I changed my mind after reading this. Murphy talks about long-haul trucking and his life moving people around the country. Great read.

God’s Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe by J. Warner Wallace. Like Meyer’s book above, this is another thought-provoking book about the universe we’re part of, and the coincidentally (or, intentionally) perfect environment that supports life.

Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention–and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari. Does that title resonate with you? Deep thinking is at a premium nowadays. The author explores the problem, talks to experts, and proposes some solutions.

The Last Word on Power: Executive Re-Invention for Leaders Who Must Make the Impossible Happen by Tracy Goss. Is the “winning strategy” that got you where you are today keeping you from taking the next step? That’s the hypothesis here, and the author explains how to re-invent your leadership approach. There were things I disagreed with, but it made me think!

150 Most Famous Poems by Poetry House. I didn’t read a lot of poetry in school. So, I figured I should get all cultured and invest some time. This book featured poems by many of the greats, and I’m better for having read it.

Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow by Aurélien Géron. Many of us are still in continuous-learning mode, so I’m not going to resign myself to superficial knowledge of key topics. This book was dense with a lot of math, but it also helped me understand some fundamentals about machine learning that will make me more dangerous now.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance. These next four books are all about different starting points. Vance did something “ordinary”—graduating school, going to college, getting a professional job—which was an accomplishment in itself given kids like him. Inspiring story.

The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams by Darcy Frey. This book is thirty years old, and follows three New York kids in their senior year as they hope to escape Coney Island and get four-year scholarships to college. Each of these kids faced tough circumstances and long odds.

Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America’s First Female Tycoon by Charles Slack. What a story. Hetty Green was financially “set” as soon as she was born, but took what she had and made something remarkable with it. She was an eccentric person who lived life on her own terms while becoming a bigtime player in the all-male world of finance in the late 1800s.

Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut by José M. Hernández. There’s a movie on Amazon Prime about this, which is how I discovered the book. Hernández comes from a family of migrant workers, and through sheer determination, became a successful scientist then astronaut. Great story.

Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win by April Dunford. The best business-y book I read this year. Dunford does a fantastic job explaining what a good sales pitch looks like, and how to properly guide buyers to where they want to go.

The Devil’s Hand: A Thriller (Terminal List Book 4) by Jack Carr. These James Reece books are hard to put down. It’s not Shakespeare, but the pace and storytelling is compelling.

Widow’s Walk (Spenser Book 29) by Robert B. Parker. Here’s another series I can’t stop reading. Spenser is my favorite gumshoe, and I’ve enjoyed each one of these tales. If you like fast-paced crime novels, check these out.

The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine by A. W. Tozer. I’ve heard of Tozer, but had never read any of his books. I corrected that mistake this year. Wow. He’s a powerful writer. This is a short-ish, but wonderful read about longing for God and hearing from Him.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. Maybe my favorite movie as a kid? I picked up the book, and was … surprised. The movie is the first half of the book, and even then, not the exact same. And the second half of the book was something else entirely. All very good and entertaining, but unexpected!

Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times by Rebecca Homkes. My second favorite business-y book? Instead of looking at uncertainty and change as negatives, Homkes encourages us to rethink our approach to strategy and execution. This “survive, reset, thrive” model is one I’ll refer back to.

Database Design and Modeling with Google Cloud by Abirami Sukumaran. My colleagues wrote books this year that I enjoyed reading. Abi authored this excellent book about data practices and cloud services. Also check out Secure Continuous Delivery on Google Cloud by Giovanni Galloro, Nathaniel Avery, David Dorbin.

Lead Like Jesus Revisited: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges. Was Jesus Christ the greatest leader of all time? Probably, when you consider his vision setting, change management, coaching, motivating others, and servant leadership. We could use more folks leading like this.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Damien Lewis. A contender for my favorite book of the year. I saw the movie, which factored in just one of the stories from this book. The accounts of this WW2 band of raiders are exciting, courageous, reckless, and improbable.

Thanks for spending another a year with me here!

I had a great year. Not because of any one particular event. But I enjoyed some terrific time with family, had fun at work, learned a ton of new things, traveled to interesting places, developed some good habits, and gave away more than I spent. Who knows what 2024 holds, but I’m glad 2023 happened.

While I read a pile of books and wrote more than I have in years, I also felt like I did fewer things overall. For example, this was the first time in over a decade that I didn’t create any new Pluralsight courses, and I’m likely done with that season of life. I’ve been trying to do fewer things, better. Let’s take a look at some of the items I wrote this year, and the best books that I read.

Things I Wrote (or Said)

One of the main things I wrote this year was 229 editions of my daily reading list! I started the year aiming to share each day, and mostly achieved that.

The most fun “speaking” I got to do this year was at Google events. The Cloud Next ’23 dev keynote is a career highlight for me.

I also had the pleasure of delivering the Cloud update at Google I/O.

Other content I was proud of:

The Modernization Imperative: Shifting left is for suckers. Shift down instead. I send out a weekly internal newsletter and we occasionally take some of these and make them into blog posts. This one actually took off a bit as the “shift down” metaphor resonated with folks.

The Modernization Imperative (TMI): The beauty in boring. Here’s another one of those, and I liked the point of embracing the right mix of novel and stable tech.

Richard Seroter on Balancing Business and Technology Strategies. The fine folks at Semaphore had me on their podcast, and we talked about a lot of things.

The Role of DevRel at Google with Richard Seroter. This was another fun chat with Corey Quinn, and I’m glad I got to give props to our amazing developer relations team.

Richard Seroter on Google Cloud Next ’23, Tech Newsletters and VMware. The Software Defined Talk folks had me back on, and we covered a spicy set of topics.

Would generative AI have made me a better software architect? Probably. Generative AI isn’t a fad, although the hype is off the charts. Lots of people will benefit from it, including architects.

An AI-assisted cloud? It’s a thing now, and here are six ways it’s already made my cloud experience better. We’re going to see a lot about how generative AI helps devs, and this is what initially stood out to me.

I don’t enjoy these 7 software development activities. Thanks to generative AI, I might not have to do them anymore. There’s a lot of toil in software development, and generative AI may eliminate a lot of it.

There’s a new cloud-based integration platform available. Here are eight things I like (and two I don’t) about Google Cloud Application Integration. I’ve been testing out technologies for years, and it makes me happy to keep doing it. This was a fun look at Google’s new iPaaS.

Build event handlers and scale them across regions, all with serverless cloud services? Let’s try it. I’m always a fan of trying out end-to-end scenarios. Here’s one that covered a few different components.

Things I Read

I finished 47 books this year, across the usual wide range of topics. A clear theme this year was “leadership” and I learned a lot.

Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness by Steve Magness. It “toughness” about being calloused and fearing nothing? This book says we have it wrong. It’s about making choices under discomfort while embracing reality, listening to our bodies, proactively responding, and transcending discomfort. Good read!

The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson by Jeff Pearlman. Bo was a freakish athlete who I grew up watching. He had a short “prime” period, as playing both sports simultaneously was grueling, but we’re better off for having seen him play.

Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building by Claire Hughes Johnson. If you’re building a team, scaling a team, or doing this for a whole company, this book is invaluable. I appreciated the frameworks and tips shared across a wide range of leadership dimensions.

Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden. I read more historical fiction this year than ever, and boy, I really loved these two. This, and book 2 (Genghis: Lords of the Bow) were an absolutely engrossing look at what the early life of Genghis Khan was probably like, and how Mongolians lived at this time.

The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind by Jonah Berger. This book offered an outstanding reframing of persuasion. Instead of pushing people to change their minds, you become a catalyst and remove roadblocks. Very actionable stuff here.

Kydd: A Novel (Kydd Sea Adventures Book 1) by Julian Stockwin. More historical fiction! I also loved these stories about a man yanked into service at sea in the late 1700s. Great storytelling, and a compelling look at life aboard a ship at this time. I also read three more besides this one, including Artemis, Seaflower, and Mutiny.

MOVE: The 4-question Go-to-Market Framework by Sangram Vajre and Bryan Brown. My day job involved more focus on a full set of go-to-market strategies, and I wanted to gain more knowledge. This book offered a useful lens on the activities of the GTM process.

The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly. I’m a sucker for just about anything from Connelly. Harry Bosch is a legendary character at this point, and I’m becoming just as big a fan of Renée Ballard. I also read Desert Star, which featured these two.

Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People by Jeswald W. Salacuse. I’m in the enviable position of leading a team of senior folks and I want to be better at it. This book offered good guidance on strategic conversations, org integration, coaching, motivation, and more.

Loved: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products by Martina Lauchengco. The best companies do product marketing differently than others. The author does a terrific job looking at listening, positioning, and astutely applying GTM strategies.

Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller. Keller passed away this year, but left a giant legacy. I enjoyed this book about the why, when, and how of a fruitful prayer life.

Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides. I’ve become somewhat obsessed with learning about the Pacific theater of WWII, and this story was phenomenal. The courage and resilience of the POWs in the Philippines, and those who rescued them, is remarkable.

Pompeii: A Novel by Robert Harris. I visited Pompeii this Summer with my son, and then wanted to learn more about this ancient city. This historical fiction about an aquarius in the days leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius was a real page-turner.

The Terminal List by Jack Carr. Thrilling read—I also read the next two books, True Believer and Savage Son—with good pacing and a hero I was rooting for.

Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz. Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. This was such a good story about the space program, aiming high, and pursuing excellence. We’ve lost some of this, and I hope we get it back.

Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business by Chet Richards. Agility and using your time advantage? That’s what good strategy does. I really enjoyed the historical lessons and applicable advice on creating a strategy that lets you play on your terms.

Called to Lead: 26 Leadership Lessons from the Life of the Apostle Paul by John MacArthur. Talk about leadership without any traditional “power”! The lessons in this book show how good leadership is much more about influence earned through trust and character.

Truman by David McCullough. This is a big biography of one of the 20th century’s most consequential presidents. He came into a remarkably difficult situation after FDR’s death, and faced many hard decisions. I appreciated the details about Truman’s early years and what led him from humble beginnings to the highest office in the land.

Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design by Kat Holmes. One of my goals this year was to learn more about accessibility, and this book seemed like a good fit. This was a book about making intentional choices about inclusion (or exclusion) and the biases that limit who can participate. Very good read.

With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge. I think this was the best book I read in 2023. I came across it after watching the miniseries The Pacific. Published over 40 years ago, this book is a visceral look at what war is like, and the toll it took on our men in WWII. It was an emotional and powerful read.

Babe: The Legend Comes to Life by Robert Creamer. The greatest baseball player ever? Statistically, it’s hard to argue. The Babe ushered in the home run era, and lived larger than life in Boston and New York. A tragic tale at times, but you get the sense that Ruth enjoyed the life he had.

Social Justice Fallacies by Thomas Sowell. Not a long book, but Sowell continues to be one of America’s great pragmatic thinkers. Are statistical disparities in representation and economic outcomes due to discrimination by dominant majorities? In this fact-filled book, Sowell explores this idea, and whether distant surrogates creating policies for justice are creating more harm than good.

Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments by Joe Posnanski. Ask baseball fans for the “50 most magical moments” and you’ll get all sorts of different answers. But I love Joe’s look at what stood out to him, and it reminded me of why this game still captivates me.

Wiring the Winning Organization by Gene Kim and Steve J. Spear. I recently wrote up a full book review, but pick up this book if you’re a leader or someone who influences how work gets done.

Marketing for Product-Led Growth by Steve LaChance. PLG is a powerful tool for product companies, and this was probably the most “highlighted” book on my Kindle this year. It’s full of advice on how to re-think the customer journey.

Hugger Mugger by Robert Parker. I read a few more Spencer books from Parker this year. It’s my guilty pleasure, and I usually finish them in a couple of days. This was the last one I read in 2023, and the gumshoe hasn’t lost a step.

The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo by Jason K. Stearns. I have a friend in Africa, and I realized I knew very little about what happens on the continent. This was a good book on the complex conditions that has made war in the Congo a fact of life.

The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter. This story about a set of people at a leadership retreat resonated a lot with me. What does real leadership look like? It looks like love. Not the feeling, but the behavior. Patience, kindness, humility, selflessness, respectfulness, forgiveness, honesty, commitment. May we all lead this way in 2024.

Thanks for sticking with me for another year, and let’s find some excuses to engage in the year ahead.

I had a good year. My immediate family stayed healthy, I got to spend quality in-person time with my extended family, traveled internationally a bit, enjoyed my job at Google (including a change in role), spoke at some events, taught a couple of Pluralsight courses, and moved to beautiful San Diego. I also did fewer things overall, and found a reasonable balance between go-go-go and rest. For the first time, I kept a daily log and the constant reflection really slowed me down, in a good way.

For the last fifteen years (yeesh!) I’ve been recapping the previous year, and highlighting the best books I read. I finished 49 books in 2022—my daily log shows that I read on 93% of the days last year—and for the first time, read one book twice. But first, let’s look at a few of my favorite written pieces.

Things I Wrote (or Said)

Multicloud’s moment: Everybody’s doing it, but are you doing it right? Here’s eight dos and don’ts. This ended up being a fairly popular post on the Google Cloud blog and I enjoyed sharing some mildly-edgy perspectives.

Google Cloud Next ’22 Developer Keynote: Top 10 Cloud Technology Predictions. I had the pleasure of speaking at Google Cloud’s flagship conference last year, and for some reason they brought me back again. This was a fun talk. More people comment to me on the walkup music than the content itself.

How easily can you process events in AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions? Let’s try it out. I use each hyperscaler on almost a weekly basis, and enjoy comparing and contrasting the experiences.

Running serverless web, batch, and worker apps with Google Cloud Run and Cloud Spanner. One reason that I write things is so that others can take my ideas and make them better. Multiple people took this post and demo and improved on it, and I was happy to see it.

This might be the cleanest way I’ve seen parallel processing done in a (serverless) workflow engine. For better or worse, I’m getting older and have seen a lot. So, it’s fun to look at new approaches to classic problems.

Loading data directly into a warehouse via your messaging engine? Here’s how this handy new feature works in Google Cloud. I’m slowly expanding my horizons from being so app centric to becoming more data centric. BigQuery is awesome, and I spent a fair amount of time in 2022 using it.

Continuously deploy your apps AND data? Let’s try to use Liquibase for BigQuery changes. Hands down, the most complex tech demo I built this year. The result is straightforward, but I had to learn a lot, almost gave up three times, but am proud of myself for figuring it out. And, I think it solves a useful problem!

Things I Read

I read 49 books on an assortment of topics. Here are some of the standouts:

West with the Night by Beryl Markham. Beautifully written book from Beryl Markham who is known for being the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. But this story is abotu so much more. Her life growing up in Africa is fascinating, as is her adventurous adulthood. Vivid language, exquisite phrasing, and a compelling story.

Project Hail Mary: A Novel by Andy Weir. I liked this book so much I read it twice! From the author of “The Martian”, it’s another fun, surprising, and education (!) space adventure.

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr. Google uses Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as a way to articulate goals and align teams. This is a good book that uses lots of examples to explains what OKRs are, why they matter, and how to do them well (and poorly).

140 Days to Hiroshima: The Story of Japan’s Last Chance to Avert Armageddon by David Dean Barrett. I didn’t know much about the Japanese perspective regarding WWII. This well-written book explains how the military leadership of Japan led the country towards a catastrophic result.

Serpico by Peter Maas. Such a great book. It’s the true story of New York cop Frank Serpico who resisted widespread corruption and eventually helped bring some accountability to the department.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. Wow, I saw the movie years ago, but the book was tremendous. This is a maddening, insightful, and engaging book about the financial meltdown earlier this century and the irresponsible industries that made it possible.

Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible by J. Warner Wallace. When a homicide detective investigates the historicity of Jesus and applies his considerable investigation skills, you know it’ll be interesting. It was also insightful to learn the various techniques a detective uses to crack a case.

Florence Nightingale: A Life Inspired by Lynn M. Hamilton. We owe so much to Nightingale! She was not a nurse by trade, but her smarts and relentless effort made a massive impact on the mortality rate of soldiers and hospital design. Linking infection to unclean environments was a game changer.

The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski. I loved this. Baseball is my favorite sport, and Posnanski offers up a vignette of the top hundred players of all time. Many of these stories emphasize the father-son relationship, the ability to rise above adversity, and the hard work necessary to realize sustained success over many years.

Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity by Frank Slootman. This approach won’t resonate with everyone, but it definitely spoke to me. It’s all about leaders focusing on awareness, urgency, decisiveness, and play to win. Great business book.

Marco Polo by Laurence Bergreen. I admittedly didn’t much about Marco Polo besides saying his name in swimming pool games. I really liked this book that told the story of the Polos and how their partnership with the Mongols had massive implications on cultural transmission between East and West.

Product Management in Practice by Matt LeMay. If you’re new at product management, or an experienced product manager, you’ll like this book. It’s full of advice for every dimension of the role.

Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave by Ryan Holiday. This book sent me down a rabbit-hole of Stoic content in 2022. Holiday explores “courage”, how to replace “fear”, and uses tons of examples to prove his point. Motivational and enjoyable read.

I Was Right On Time by Buck O’Neil. If I made a list of ten all-time Americans to have lunch with, O’Neil would be on the list. This is the story of a wonderful man who played a key part in the Negro Leagues of baseball and remained an ambassador of the (eventually-integrated) sport for decades afterward.

Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets: 5 Questions to Help You Determine Your Next Move by Andy Stanley. We all make hundreds (thousands?) of decisions every day, and Pastor Stanley offers up some truly compelling questions/decisions to help you make good choices. The one about “what story do you want to tell?” helped me change how I handled the difficult process selling my house this year.

Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Read this book to learn about the heroes of the Stoic approach. Along the way, you’ll absorb a lot of pragmatic advice for living a satisfied, impactful life.

Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company by Andy Grove. Exceptional business book that I got around to reading this year. It’s a masterclass of decisiveness, ownership, continuous attention, and building things that last.

Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind by Andy Dunn. Brave story from Dunn who seemingly had it all while founding and succeeding with Bonobos. But his struggles with mental illness blew all that up, and forced him to get help. Important story.

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell. If you’re building a business, building a team, or building products, you’ll love Fadell’s book. It’s chock-full of useful advice and stories from his time creating some of the most iconic products of the last couple decades.

Oscar Charleston: The Life and Legend of Baseball’s Greatest Forgotten Player by Jeremy Beer. Was Charleston the greatest baseball player of all time? It’s possible. He starred on some all-time Negro League teams before the sport was integrated, yet never seemed to harbor bitterness about that. He stayed in the sport for years after before dying relatively young. I wish I could have seen him play.

Unstoppable: Siggi B. Wilzig’s Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend by Joshua M. Greene. Wilzig had no advantages in life, especially after coming to America following years in Auschwitz. Through talent and determination he built companies and changed industries. All while ensuring that Holocaust memories wouldn’t be forgotten.

Is Atheism Dead? by Eric Metaxas. Nowadays, it can take more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God. Metaxas wrote a compelling book that outlines the scientific, archeological, and philosophical case for belief.

Warfighting: The US Marine Corps Book of Strategy by A.M. Gray. I enjoy a good strategy book, and this one offered useful perspective on dealing with uncertainty, strategies for confronting the “enemy”, and creating clarity around your intent.

Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value by Teresa Torres. A good product team is never done learning. Torres wrote an excellent book that can help product managers and organizational leaders continuously discover what the customer needs and how a product should evolve for maximum benefit.

Developer Marketing Does Not Exist: The Authentic Guide to Reach a Technical Audience by Adam DuVander. Nobody likes being on the receiving end of “bad” marketing, but developers in particular are quick to tune out anything inauthentic. DuVander does a great job laying out what a sincere, impactful marketing messaging can look like for technical teams.

Developer Relations: How to Build and Grow a Successful Developer Program by Caroline Lewko and James Parton. Before I took on my role leading Developer Relations at Google Cloud, I picked up this book. I’m glad I did. I learned about team structures, metrics, and mission along with how to help DevRel positively impact the business itself.

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield. I could barely put this book down. It’s historical fiction about the 300 Spartan warriors who somehow resisted a massive Persian invasion and changed the course of history. Staggering courage.

The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie Jr. This is a fictional Western story that offers up a captivating look at life during westward expansion and what it meant to survive and thrive.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony by Richard Bauckham. This book represents the first effort to treat the Gospels as testimony by eyewitnesses. Fascinating stuff. Bauckham does thorough analysis into names of Palestinian Jews in this time period, how oral preservation happened in ancient cultures, how memory works, and the standalone value of eyewitness testimony.

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides. Another book about courage! The 30+ folks who left to find the North Pole weren’t reckless; they meticulously researched and prepared. But they were doomed from the start. Between two years stuck in the ice, and an improbable journey after their ship sank, it’s almost amazing that 13 survived.

Investments Unlimited: A Novel About DevOps, Security, Audit Compliance, and Thriving in the Digital Age by many. Can a book about enterprise security practices be engaging? Yes, when written as fiction. Good story that imparted helpful lessons for those trying to go fast while staying safe.

What does 2023 hold? I have absolutely no idea. Hopefully for all of us, it offers more learning opportunities, more laughter, and less of taking ourselves too seriously. I’m going to continue keeping a short daily journal, started sharing daily recaps of my favorite blog posts, and I hope to continue enjoying my family while tackling new challenges at work. Let’s stay connected this year!

2020, amiright? It was tragic for some, disruptive to most, and weird for all. But all things considered—and I honestly feel guilty saying this—it was a good year for me. Everyone close to me stayed relatively healthy, I sincerely enjoyed being home with my family and getting closer to them, I read and wrote more than I had in years, work was meaningful and enjoyable, and I more intentionally invested in myself and others. While I desperately missed seeing my family, friends, and co-workers in person, I have little to complain about.

Everyone coped in different ways this year. There’s no right or wrong way. For whatever reason, I was more productive. I wrote twice as many blog posts as usual, created three Pluralsight courses, expanded the InfoQ cloud editorial team, showed up on some podcasts, spoke at a few online events, started working and building a team at Google Cloud, and read double the number of books as I did last year. Below are the best things I watched, wrote, and read in 2020.

Things I Watched

This was the sort of year where it was easy to watch a LOT of shows—streaming or otherwise. I tried to keep from falling down the Netflix wormhole, and mainly watched TV during the lunch hour. Some of the best things I streamed were:

Schitt’s Creek – Season 6 [Netflix]. The show had a solid concluding season, and remains one of my favorite shows ever.

BoJack Horseman – Season 6 [Netflix]. Another final season here, and I enjoyed it. You wouldn’t think that a show with talking cats and horses would be poignant, but it’s got some meaningful moments.

Mandalorian – Season 1 {Disney+]. Impressive show. Watched with one of the kiddos. I’ll likely catch Season 2 this year.

The Office (UK) – Seasons 1 & 2 [Amazon Prime]. I started this a few times in the past, and never go very far. In 2020, I watched both seasons, and really loved it. Amazingly cringey and hilarious.

The IT Crowd – Seasons 1-5 [Amazon Prime]. Someone recommended this show to me years ago, and I figured 2020 was my year for British workplace comedies. Highly recommended if you like over-the-top, absurd shows.

Bosch – Seasons 5 & 6 [Amazon Prime]. Season five was excellent, seasons six was ok, but honestly, I’d watch this cast in any performance. This show really sucks me in.

Band of Brothers [Amazon Prime]. This is another series I started a few times, and never finished. I had the time in 2020 to go all the way through, and glad I did. So well done.

Jack Ryan – Season 2 [ Amazon Prime]. Well done, not as outstanding as the first season. 

Things I Wrote

One of my 2019 resolutions was to get back to writing more often. I ended up writing a couple dozen posts on my own blog, and some corporate blog posts too. I also experimented with some short form writing and tech demos in the form of Twitter threads (e.g. VM migration, Anthos configuration, GCP cloud editor, and Cloud Foundry migration). Here are a few pieces that I enjoyed the most:

[Forbes] When It Comes To Cloud Migration, Stop Playing It Safe. This was the first thing of mine published by Google. I looked at how to adopt the cloud faster.

[Google blog] You do you: How to succeed in a distributed, multi-cloud world. I try to be fairly pragmatic with tech advice, and this Google blog post looked at ways companies can succeed when adopting more than one public cloud.

[InfoQ] New Report Shows “Overwhelming” Cloud Usage. While I continued leading the “cloud” team at InfoQ, I decided to step back from regular writing given that I started working for a cloud provider. I can still do industry pieces like this one!

[blog] I’m joining Google Cloud for the same reasons you should be a customer. I used this post to announce my job change. Seven months into my time at Google, and I have no regrets.

[blog] Let’s compare the CLI experiences offered by AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with all the public clouds. Still, I can’t pretend that I’m entirely neutral. In this post, I did my best to fairly consider each cloud’s command line experience. Similarly, I wrote another post about each cloud’s database emulation tool.

[blog] Four reasons that Google Cloud Run is better than traditional FaaS offerings. I’m always on the lookout for the next great technology for developers. Google Cloud Run is one of those, and I dug into it here.

[blog] These three pieces of career advice made a huge impact on me. This was a short post, but a few people have told me that this helped them make their own career decision this year. That’s nice to hear.

[blog] After 15 years of blogging, here are 6 things I’ve learned. I’m trying to be better about sharing whatever I know, and I wrote a few blog posts this year on that topic. This one looked at what I learned about blogging, and I wrote another about building a personal brand.

Things I Read

I’ve never read this many books in one year. I resolved in 2020 to read every day, not just during business travel or weekend downtime. The result? I started and finished 67 books. I figured I’d call out most of them below, as it was too hard to pick just a few favorites.

Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt), Jonathan Rosenberg (@jjrosenberg), and Alan Eagle (@aeaglejr). Without Bill, would Google have been Google Apple been Apple, or many Valley companies succeeded? Doesn’t seem like it. This book was part biography, part leadership lesson, and entirely valuable. The authors drove home the importance of coaching, and how Campbell created a lasting impact with his brand of leadership. Actionable stuff here!

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. As with anything Bryson writes, this book is super engaging, and makes the reader want to visit the places he talks about. Here, he drives around Australia while offering a detailed history of life on the continent. I’ve been there once, and now am eager to return.

Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty by Patrick M. Lencioni (@patricklencioni). This is leadership advice wrapped in a highly readable story. The focus here was on vulnerability, and creating meaningful relationships with clients through humility and transparency. It reminded me that I need to double-down on this myself when talking with customers.

The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities by Patrick M. Lencioni (@patricklencioni). I have a feeling that I’m going to read most of Lencioni’s books. This one asked an uncomfortable question: are you a leader because you want to be rewarded for years of hard work, or because you feel responsible and want to serve others? This is a good story that tells you it’s ok to step back from leadership positions it doesn’t don’t align with your motivations.

Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman (@lizzydgoodman). This was one of my favorites. I loved (and still love) this era of music, and this book was an absorbing behind-the-scenes look at how the most influential bands rose to prominence. Presented through a series of interviews, the book makes you feel the struggles and successes of these talented individuals. It’s also caused me to listen to a LOT of The Strokes during the past two months.

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis. How do people make decisions? What powers our judgement? This book is partially a biography of renowned psychologists Danny Kahneman and Amos Tversky, while also exploring the evolution of our understanding of how we make judgement calls. Beautiful story.

The Battle of Midway by Craig L. Symonds. I had watched the recent film about this WWII battle, and realized I knew way too little about it. This was a thrilling, sobering, and detailed look at an event that had huge historical impact.

The Godwulf Manuscript (Spenser Series Book 1) by Robert B. Parker. I’m not sure what triggered my interest in this series—maybe the Spencer movie that came out on Netflix?—but I was obsessed. I read fourteen of these books in 2020. This detective series started in the 70s and I kinda loved that setting. Spencer is a terrific character, and I’ll probably read the next fourteen books in 2021.

The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality by Thomas M. Shapiro (@tmshapiro). Why do we see racial inequality increase when rights and opportunities have expanded? The thesis of this book is that family assets are the reason. Seems like some good research here, and the author makes a compelling argument.

Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow by Matthew Skelton (@matthewpskelton) and Manuel Pais (@manupaisable). This book looks at four team types and offers lots of suggestions for how to use team design to get the service/software you’re looking for.

Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright (@profntwright). I love to see a historical figure in three-dimensional context that factors in their setting and contemporaries. This book gave me new appreciation for one of history’s most important individuals. 

Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum (@ajblum). Where exactly is the Internet at? I thoroughly enjoyed this book by Blum where he sets out to find out physically, where the Internet is at. He travels the world and explains some of the fundamentals of how it all works. It’s completely fascinating, and makes me appreciate something I usually take for granted.

The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek. This autobiography features a series of stories about Trebek’s life. He’s a fascinating individual, and I was sorry that we lost him in 2020. But he seemed at peace with his fate, and lived a rich life. 

INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan (@cagan). This is a must-read book for product managers, but also for anyone involved in the product lifecycle. I’ll be reading Cagan’s next book in 2021.

Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD). The author says that instead of alarmist, exaggerated language about climate change, we need a more rational discussion about what’s really happening. Shellenberger has impressive credentials, and delivers a well-researched, engaging book that opened my eyes. 

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why by Amanda Ripley (@amandaripley). What happens when we face disaster? It included some useful advice for individuals facing disaster, and those building structures that need to be evacuated in such situations. Ripley wrote a fascinating book that had me reflecting about how *I* would act in the various situations she called out!

A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles by Thomas Sowell. What underpins our political and social differences? Sowell contends that there are “constrained” and “unconstrained” visions that drive our worldview. The unconstrained vision sees humanity as perfectible where bad choices explain social evils. The constrained vision sees defects as inevitable and looks at trade-offs that factor in human nature. Neither of these align with a particular political party, and much of Sowell’s argument made sense to me.

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean (@bethanymac12) and Peter Elkind (@peterelkind). This was such a page-turner! With the benefit of hindsight, it’s shocking to see the decision-making that went on within Enron, and in the investment banks. Maybe it was shocking at the time, too. Either way, it offers a timeless lesson about transparency and defining incentives.

Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore (@geoffreyamoore). My Google colleague Kyle talks about this book a lot, and I knew the framework. But it was great to actually dig into this great book and learn about market development and what adopters care about at each stage.

The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper (@jaketapper). Wow, what a tense, emotional, and powerful story. This book explored the true story of soldiers manning a vulnerable outpost in Afghanistan. It was frustrating to see the lack of support these brave folks received, but it was also inspiring to observe their courage and desire to do the right thing.

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight (@davidwblight1). This my most “highlighted” Kindle book this year. I saved a ton of sections of this terrific book about one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. He relentlessly delivered a message of freedom, and accepted the heavy burden of his mission.  

The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife by Brad Balukjian (@BradBalukjian). I really enjoyed this one. Balukjian opened an old pack of baseball cards and set out to physically meet up with each player in there. He shared part of his own story along the way, and made this well-rounded look at our journey through life.

Race, Work, and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience by Laura Morgan Roberts (@alignmentquest), Tony Mayo, and David A. Thomas (@ProfThomas). The editors assembled a series of data-driven essays that highlight both challenges and opportunities for black professionals and their allies. Great read.

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger (@RobertIger). This was an entertaining biography, with many useful leadership lessons sprinkled in. It was also a good reminder of the high stakes and stress that accompanies executive roles.

Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melaine Mitchell (@MelMitchell1). The field of complexity looks at how simple things organize into a hard-to-predict, leader-less whole, while evolving and learning. We see this in nature, economies, and even technology systems. This book itself was complex, but I liked it and learned many things.

The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? by Paul Davies. Lots of math and physics here, but it’s an entirely readable, thought-provoking book that makes you appreciate our very existence.

Hunting Evil: The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice by Guy Walters (@guywalters). I mean, the title clearly identifies what this book is about. Walters does a great job telling some exciting stories, dispelling some myths, and laying out a number of frustrating details about spotty efforts of the Allies to do this important work. 

The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael Watkins (@MichaelDWatkins). In anticipation of starting a new job, I picked up this book to help me get in the right frame of mind. This Google role is actually my first where I *started* in a leadership position, so I figured I needed help. Watkins provides useful advice here, even if you’re switching roles within the same company.

Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust by Ingrid Carlberg (@ingridmcarlberg). I guess I read a lot of biographies this year. This one really stuck with me. Wallenberg displayed an uncommon purpose, bravery, and creativity in his effort to protect as many people as possible. His postwar captivity—and the passive approach of his government to intervene—was heartbreaking.

The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks by Ben Cohen (@bzcohen). Are hot streaks real? Is anyone really “in the zone” or are we seeing patterns that don’t exist? This was a good book that felt meandering (in a good way) at times, came to some conclusions, and even offered some advice for investors and professionals.

Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters by N.T. Wright (@profntwright). Another excellent book that puts someone of epic relevance into their geographical, societal, and historical context.

Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy by Joan Magretta. This book has a huge influence on me in 2020, and likely for years ahead. I finally felt like I “got” strategy after reading it. Magretta does a masterful job explaining the essence of strategy, where competitive differentiation comes from, and why Porter has a timeless way of thinking about it.

The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini by Joe Posnanski (@JPosnanski). I love Joe’s writing which I’ve always associated with sports. His book about Houdini was wonderful. We all know the name, but why are we drawn to the illusionist? Here we investigate the man, and those who still carry a torch for him. 

Jobs to be Done: Theory to Practice by Anthony W. Ulwick (@Ulwick). Seems I read more books about product development this year than I thought. This one’s a gem. Whether you’re selling enterprise software or homemade jewelry, you have to ask yourself what job the customer is hiring you to do. Ulwick walks us through this framework and how to apply it.

Isaac Newton by James Gleick (@JamesGleick). This was a big, informative biography of a pioneering scientist whose impact is felt hundreds of years later.

Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe by Steven H. Strogatz (@stevenstrogatz). Can math be fun and exciting? Sure it can. This was the 2nd most highlighted book on my Kindle in 2020. Strogatz tries, and succeeds, in making calculus more approachable and applicable. He uses stories, relatable examples, and a palpable enthusiasm to pull the reader through even the most complex problems.

The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It by John Tierney (@JohnTierneyNYC) and Roy F. Baumeister. It wasn’t difficult in 2020 to have a negative attitude. This book goes into depth on how good we actually have it right now, how to “override the disproportionate impact of bad”, and how to handle sincerely terrible circumstances.

The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get: An Entrepreneur’s Memoir by Joe Ricketts. I don’t remember who recommended this biography, but I’m glad I read it. Ricketts founded Ameritrade, and walks through his journey disrupting the brokerage market. Good story of perseverance and grit.

Fragments of Isabella: A Memoir of Auschwitz by Isabella Leitner. This is a relatively short, moving memoir of a young woman who was deported to Auschwitz along with her family, and somehow survived the ordeal. This is another book that stayed with me long after I finished it. 

Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen by Rita Gunther McGrath (@rgmcgrath). Here’s another book that touches on product development and strategy. The author serves up lots of stories and advice to help us find the right vantage point and look broadly for what’s next.

Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History by Patrick Hunt. We have such short memories, don’t we? I like books that reset my context and help me appreciate the bigger picture. This book looked at great discoveries—things like the Rosetta Stone, Dead Sea Scrolls, Pompeii, Troy, and more—how it happened, and what it means. Educational and interesting.

Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis. Like me, you might have an idealistic, old timey view of the stock market. But alas, there was quite a long period where high frequency traders took advantage of milisecond information advantages to skim money from investors. Lewis tells a terrific story about those who figured it out, and fought back.

Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker by David Nihill (@davidnihill). Do you have to be naturally hilarious to inject humor into your presentations? Nah. Nihill became a stand up comic for a year to learn the field, and translate those lessons into something that everyone else can apply. Most presentations are kinda terrible, so by injecting some strategic humor into your presentation, you’ll probably see your career prospects take off.

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. This is a classic book that I just got around to reading. Shame on me. It’s the thrilling story of fighter pilots who were addicted to speed and altitude, and eventually—minus Chuck Yeager who may have been the best of them all—staffed the first space flights. These are heroes, straight up.

Whew. That was a lot. Congrats for getting this far. And congrats for surviving 2020 intact. I know that for many of you, it was a sincerely difficult year where loneliness and loss assaulted you. Know that you matter, things will get better, and people are here to root you on. Let’s have a great 2021, together.

Well, that was quite a year. Maybe for you too. I ended up speaking at a half-dozen events, delivered 2+ new Pluralsight courses, helped organize a conference, kept writing news and such for InfoQ.com, blogged a bit, was granted the Microsoft MVP award again, and wrote a book. At work, I played a small part in helping Pivotal become a public company, and somehow got promoted to Vice President.

For the 11th year in a row, I thought it’d be fun to list out what I enjoyed writing and reading this year.

Things I Wrote

I kept up a decent pace of writing this year across InfoQ, my personal blog, and the Pivotal blog. Here are a few things I enjoyed writing.

[Book] Modernizing .NET Applications. I’ve told anyone that would listen that I’d never write another book. Clearly, I’m a filthy liar. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity this year, and it gave me a chance to write down some things bouncing around in my head.

[InfoQ] Recap of AWS re:Invent 2018 Announcements. re:Invent is such an industry-defining event each year. It was a lot of work to read through the announcements and synthesize it all into one piece. I think it turned out ok.

[InfoQ] The InfoQ eMag: Testing Your Distributed (Cloud) Systems. I need to do more of these, but here’s a collection of articles I commissioned and curated into a single downloadable asset.

[Blog] 10 Characteristics of a Successful Internal IT Champion. Being a champion for change can be a challenging experience. Especially in IT departments. Here’s some advice for you.

[Blog] Wait, THAT runs on Pivotal Cloud Foundry? This was a series of five blog posts in five days that looked an unexpected workloads that run on Pivotal’s flagship platform. I look for any excuse to keep up my coding chops!

[Blog] Creating a continuous integration pipeline in Concourse for a test-infused ASP.NET Core app. Whoever gets good code to production fastest, wins! Here, it was fun to play with one of my favorite continuous integration tools (Concourse) and my favorite programming framework (.NET).

[Blog] How to use the Kafka interface of Azure Event Hubs with Spring Cloud Stream. Microsoft’s been sticking standard facades in front of their proprietary services, so I thought it’d be useful to try one out.

[Pivotal Blog] You Deserve a Continuously Integrated Platform. Here’s Why It Matters. Build it, or buy it? It’s an age-old debate. In this post, I explained why certain things (like app platforms) should be bought from those who have expertise at building them.

[Pivotal Blog] You’re Investing In .NET, and so Are We. Pivotal Is Now a Corporate Sponsor of The .NET Foundation. I was happy to see Pivotal take a bigger step to help .NET developers. This post looks at what we’re doing about it, besides just throwing money at the .NET Foundation.

Things I Read

Over the course of 2018, I read 35 books on a variety of topics. Here’s a subset of the ones that stood out to me the most.

Grant, by Ron Chernow. This book is a monster in size, but maybe the best thing I read in 2018. Meticulously research but entirely readable, the book walks through U.S. Grant’s incredible life. Unbelievable highs, crushing lows.

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well, by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. Safe to say this was the most impactful business-y book that I read in 2018. While attention was paid to effectively giving feedback, the bulk of the book was about receiving feedback. I’ve read very little about that, and this book completely changed my thinking on the topic.

Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations, by Nichole Forsgren (@nicolefv), Jez Humble (@jezhumble), and Gene Kim (@RealGeneKim). Clearly put, this book explains the findings and methods behind a long-standing DevOps survey. Besides laying out their methods, Forsgren and team thoroughly explain the key capabilities that separate the best from the worst. If you’ve been lacking the ammunition to initiate a software revolution at your company, it’s time to purchase and devour this book.

Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, by David Garrow. I was historically ignorant about this time period, and needed to correct that. What a powerful book about a complex, flawed, courageous individual who carried an unparalleled burden while under constant scrutiny. Well-written, eye-opening book.

Discrimination and Disparities, by Thomas Sowell. I followed up the previous book with this one. Wanted to hear more on this topic. Sowell is an insightful economist, and explores the role that discrimination does, and doesn’t, play in disparities we see around us. He attempts to escape emotional appeals and find rational answers.

Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems, by Martin Kleppmann (@martinkl). This should be foundational reading for anyone designing or building distributed systems. It’s wonderfully written, comprehensive, and extremely useful. Buy this book.

Streaming Systems: The What, Where, When, and How of Large-Scale Data Processing, by Tyler Akidau (@takidau), Slava Chernyak, Reuven Lax (@reuvenlax). This book has some complex ideas, but it’s a must-read for those shifting their mindset from static data to data in motion. The authors have an approachable writing style, that makes even the most dense topics relatable.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Question for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown (@DJamesBrown). I think this was my favorite book of 2018. The author made me care deeply about the characters, and the writing was legitimately thrilling during the races. It was also insightful to read about a Seattle that was barely in the public consciousness at the time.

Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, by Steve Alten (@meg82159). I admittedly didn’t know about this book series until the movie came out in 2018, but who doesn’t love giant sharks? The book wasn’t the same as the movie; it was better. Fun read.

The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Parts of Any Bold Venture, by Scott Belsky (@scottbelsky). Good book. Really, a series of short, advice-filled chapters. Belsky deftly uses his own experiences as an entrepreneur and investor to help the reader recognize the leader’s role during the highs and lows of a company/project/initiative.

Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, by Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas). I read a book about a freakin’ prehistoric shark, yet this book about a 16th century monk had some of the most thrilling moments I read this year. My knowledge of Martin Luther was limited to “something something Reformation” and “something something 95 theses”, but this book helped me recognize his massive contribution to the world. We owe many of the freedoms we have today to Luther’s courageous stand.

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, by John Carreyrou (@JohnCarreyrou). Wow, what a book. I was peripherally aware of this company (Theranos) and storyline already, but this book is an eye-opening account of what really happened. I’m not even sure there’s a “good intentions” angle here, as it just seems like bad people doing bad things.

Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great, by Carmine Gallo (@carminegallo). If you’re wondering why your career is stagnant, there’s a chance it’s because you’re a subpar communicator. Gallo makes the case that moving others to action is the quintessential skill of this century. His book uses tons of anecdotes to drive the point home, and he sprinkles in plenty of actionable advice.

The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change, by Camille Fournier (@skamille). This is a book aimed at new managers of technical teams. There’s some general advice in here that’s useful for managers of any type of team, but it’s most helpful if you lead (or want to empathize with) a tech team. Fournier’s experience shines through, in this easy-to-read book.

How Christianity Changed the World, by Alvin J. Schmidt. Good book that outlined the massive impact of Christianity on Western society. Regardless of what you believe (or don’t!), it’s impressive to recognize that Christianity elevated the value of human life (by bringing an end to infanticide, child abandonment, gladiator battles) and women’s rights, introduced orphanages, old-age homes, and hospitals, erected the first universities, colleges, and public school systems, and ushered in a new era of art, science, and government. Wild stuff.

To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, by Daniel H. Pink (@DanielPink). Most of us are selling something, whether we recognize it or not. Pink lays out the reality, and why our ability to move others is key to success. And importantly, he offers some legitimately useful ways to make that happen.

The F*It List: Lessons fro a Human Crash Test Dummy, by Eric Byrnes (@byrnes22). I knew Byrnes, the colorful professional baseball player. I did not know Eric Byrnes, the uber-athlete and ultra-marathoner. He’s got a refreshing approach to life, and wrote a compelling autobiography. Thanks to @wearsy for the recommendation.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown (@GregoryMcKeown). This book stands to have the biggest impact on my life in 2019. It’s about constantly stopping and evaluating whether we’re working on the right things. On purpose. I’m giving myself permission to be more selective in 2019, and will be more mindful about where I can make the biggest impact.

The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission, by Jim Bell (@Jim_Bell). Thanks to this book and the movie “The Farthest”, I became obsessed with the Voyager missions. I even did a couple talks about it to tech audiences this year. Bell’s book is detailed, exciting, and inspirational.

The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World, 1776-1914, by Gavin Weightman. I read about how artificial intelligence will upend the world and economy as we know it, so I thought it’d be smart to look at the last world-changing revolution. This was a fascinating book and I learned a lot. It still blows me away that many comforts of our current life are fairly recent inventions.

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin. The authors call out five questions at the heart of the business strategy: what’s your winning aspiration, where to play, how to win, what capabilities must be in place, and what management systems are required. I found the book engaging, relevant, and motivational.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, by Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz). This book stressed me out, but in a good way. Horowitz doesn’t tiptoe around the tension of building and sustaining something. The book is absolutely full of useful advice that really landed for me.

High Output Management, by Andy Grove. Best business book that I read all year. It’s also one that Horowitz refers to a lot in his book (above). Every manager should read this. Grove focuses on value and outcomes, and lays out what good management looks like.

The Problem of God: Answering a Skeptic’s Challenges to Christianity, by Mark Clark (@markaclark). Mark’s a mesmerizing speaker that I’ve heard in-person a few times. Here, he makes a well-rounded, logical, compelling case for Christian faith.

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, by Daniel H Pink (@DanielPink). Sheesh, two Pink books in the same year? The man writes a good tome, what can I say? This is a book about timing. What time of day we should perform certain activities. When and how to “start” things, when to end. And how to synchronize teams. As always, an engaging read that made me rethink my approaches.

Showstopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft, by G Pascal Zachary. If you didn’t think a story about creating Windows NT could be compelling, THINK AGAIN. Part history lesson and part adventure tale, this book provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes featuring some characters you’ll recognize.
I probably say this every year, but sincerely, thank you all for being on this journey with me. Each day, I learn so much from the people (virtually and physically) around me. Let’s all have a 2019 where we learn a lot and make those around us better.