My favorite 2018 books, digital transformation learnings
Eduard de Vries Sands
Chief Information Officer at Eversana | Driving digital transformation of life science product commercialization
As we continue on our digital transformation journey, it is critical to gain insights how other organizations have succeeded. Below a list my favorite 2018 books and the key insights I took away. All of these books have multiple takeaways for me and I recommend to read them fully.
Growth IQ by Tiffani Bova
The book shows steps for sustainable company growth, accompanied by inspiring and relatable real-life examples.
Strategy beyond the hockey stick by Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, and Sven Smit
Only a fraction of companies achieve breakthrough performance, this book delivers data-driven view of how they achieved it, making the right big moves and avoiding spreading your resources thinly across too many initiatives.
The age of agile by Stephen Denning
The book describes how organizations which have embraced agile have three core attributes; small teams, customer-focused and organizational networking. It describes this using case studies from Microsoft and other, valuable read. Good lessons to apply in our organizations.
Sense & respond by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
“When we understand the things that users want to do, we have the basis for serving customer needs, thus creating business value.” Sense & respond provides a good approach and real-life case studies.
Machine platform crowd by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson
The book explains the impact of Machine|Platform|Crowd and you cannot help seeing the opportunities within your markets and organization while reading this book. Great food for thought.
The startup way by Eric Ries
The startup way describes how to use the LEAN mindset and approaches in every organization including large established companies. It provided ideas how to enable innovation within a larger organization I worked, and this book truly energized me to go and expand a new product within an established organization.
Project to product by Mik Kersten
Mik provides a framework how to connect the (customer/business) value streams to transformation and technology work streams. I have used this approach for many years, however Project-to-Product's approach is clean and well defined and structured.
Driving digital by Isaac Sacolick
Driving digital provides a battle-tested plan how Isaac defined and implemented digital transformation as a CIO. It provides a clear and concise roadmap. Great and very applicable insights.
Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations by Nicole Forsgren, Gene Kim and Jez Humble
Research backed insights into what sets apart the high-performing software development groups compared from average or lagging groups. Good insights on metrics, culture and methods. I bought over twenty copies for teams and we did a full day workshop mapping out how we can apply the learnings from this book and saw the results.
And two classics which I re-read at least once a year:
Design of everyday things by Don Norman
This book changed how I look at design and usability of products, great book on design for non-designers. Warning, you will never look at glass doors the same way!
American Icon by Bryce Hoffman
Book tells the story of the turnaround at Ford lead by Alan Mullaly. The culture change, data-driven decision making and balance between long term R&D investments with short-term cost reduction is impressive.
Do you have any other suggestions for good reads on (digital) transformation? Any feedback on the list above?
Look forward to a new year with new books to read, and learnings to apply!
Digital Experience Transformation Leader
5yI really liked design of everyday things... and of course the startup way. A book I've read that semi-inspired me was unexpected, especially because I didn't finish it... was "Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg. I am not a feminist by any stretch, and I was sure I'd hate the book, but started to read it because I was on the committee for an ERG for women. The first couple of chapters struck me hard. Reading my fears, self limitations and doubt written by someone else really hit home. If someone was writing how I felt, especially how I never chose a seat at the table (in the literal sense), made me realize that as a woman I needed to make some changes. It made me want to advocate for younger women in technology and that has changed my mentality 100%. Now I can't vouch for the rest of the book, but understanding how women in male-dominated fields feel... I'm sure would benefit anyone.
Digital Experience Transformation Leader
5yKnocking a lot of these off my list already!