Bookshelf
Not a reading list. A map of how I think.
Systems thinking, negotiation, customer research, leadership, and engineering management. Each book includes the concrete decision-making lens I took from it and how it showed up in real product work.
Browse the shelf
Satoru Iwata
Nintendo's late CEO on why understanding the person using the product matters more than the metrics.
"The users weren't obstacles to security policy; they were people trying to do their jobs."
How I applied this
Iwata's mantra of 'on your side' reframed how I approached compliance features at Zendesk. The users weren't obstacles to security policy; they were people trying to do their jobs.
Donella Meadows
A primer on feedback loops, leverage points, and why interventions in complex systems rarely work the way you expect.
"I stopped asking 'who caused this' and started mapping the feedback loops."
How I applied this
Meadows gave me the vocabulary for the unintended consequences I kept seeing in multi-team environments. When a feature fix in one product area quietly broke another, I stopped asking 'who caused this' and started mapping the feedback loops.
Chris Voss
FBI hostage negotiation techniques adapted for business. Tactical empathy and calibrated questions.
"Instead of defending the roadmap, I started asking 'How am I supposed to do that?'"
How I applied this
Voss's 'calibrated questions' completely changed how I run prioritisation meetings at Zendesk. Instead of defending the roadmap, I started asking 'How am I supposed to do that?' and let stakeholders solve their own constraints.
Rob Fitzpatrick
How to talk to customers without accidentally fishing for compliments about your idea.
"Ask about their life, not your idea."
How I applied this
Running discovery with civic leaders for BulkheadOS right now. Fitzpatrick's core rule, 'ask about their life, not your idea', is the only reason those conversations produce real signal.
Will Larson
Systems of engineering management: team sizing, technical migrations, and organisational design.
"Understanding engineering constraints made me a fundamentally better PM."
How I applied this
Larson's chapter on managing migrations changed how I sequence technical work at Zendesk. Understanding engineering constraints, team sizing, debt paydown cadence, and migration risk made me a fundamentally better PM.
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