A collection of books and a Kindle reader representing continuous learning

Resources

Looking for a great book to read, podcast to follow, conference to attend, or website to visit?

For sustained personal growth, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of continuous learning and experimentation. Make sure you take the time to practice what you’ve learned!

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Continuous learning

T-shaped skills and experience

I listened to a conversation where a CEO and Head of Product discussed the distinguishing factors between senior leadership and lower leadership. They highlighted two key aspects: the ability to zoom in and zoom out (which they referred to as a superpower) and the skill of building a network and connecting with others. While this list is not exhaustive, I suggest adding a third factor: the level of continuous learning and one’s T-shaped knowledge and experience.

Learning involves courses, reading, and hands-on experience. In the past five years, I have extensively read on various non-fiction topics such as management, leadership, team design, software engineering, and Agile, Lean, and DevOps methodologies. My main focus is on people, innovation, and efficiency. The insights have enhanced my experience in building high-performing teams and efficiently delivering digital products.

This journey has turned me into a versatile generalist, exploring areas I previously had little interest in. In addition to software development, delivery, and leadership, I’ve delved into product management, team dynamics, design, finance, and metrics. I’ve also improved my communication skills to better interact with others. Additionally, I have experience leading cultural shifts, optimizing value streams, implementing automation and feedback systems, managing and empowering leaders, handling mergers and acquisitions, and exploring financing options.

The T-shape metaphor symbolizes an individual’s strengths. The vertical line stands for expertise, discipline, and knowledge in a specific field, while the horizontal line represents cross-discipline competencies and the ability to collaborate with professionals in different industries or roles. My skills and experience have gradually taken on a more V-shape.

Diagram showing Phil Clark's T-shaped skills across leadership, engineering, product, and organizational domains

“Books = Knowledge, Experience = Wisdom”

attributed to Tracy Bannon

Since 2018, I’ve deepened my expertise by engaging with nearly 200 books and additional online courses, focusing on Agile, Lean, DevOps, Software Engineering, Architecture, Leadership, Management, Communication, Coaching, Culture, Teams, Product Management, Change Management, Goal Setting, OKRs, Public Speaking, Finance, and Entrepreneurship and Funding. Engaging with books and courses and applying that knowledge practically has improved my professional skills and ability to lead and innovate within complex organizational systems.

Share what you’ve been learning, reading, or experiencing lately. Feel free to recommend any books, learning, or topics I should explore next by contacting me here.

Recommended reading

Leadership, management, practices, team, coaching

Here is a small sampling of the books that have influenced my career growth.

  • Mindset The New Psychology of Success Carol S. Dweck
  • The Phoenix Project A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford
  • The Goal A Process of Ongoing Improvement Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox
  • Accelerate The Science of Lean Software and DevOps Nicole Forsgren PhD, Jez Humble, Gene Kim
  • The DevOps Handbook How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, & Security in Technology Organizations Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, John Willis, Nicole Forsgren
  • Continuous Delivery Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation Jez Humble, David Farley
  • The High-Velocity Edge How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence Dr. Steven Spear
  • The Principles of Product Development Flow Second Generation Donald G. Reinertsen
  • Lean Product Development Donald G. Reinertsen
  • Project to Product How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework Mik Kersten
  • Drive The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Daniel H. Pink
  • Team Topologies Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais
  • Flow Engineering From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action Steve Pereira, Andrew Davis
  • Team of Teams New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, Chris Fussell
  • Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders L. David Marquet
  • Inspired How to Create Tech Products Customers Love Marty Cagan
  • Sooner Safer Happier Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility Jonathan Smart
  • Making Work Visible Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow Dominica DeGrandis
  • The Unicorn Project A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data Gene Kim
  • The Lean Startup How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses Eric Ries
  • The Art of Business Value Mark Schwartz
  • Leading the Transformation Applying Agile and DevOps Principles at Scale Gary Gruver, Tommy Mouser
  • Lean Enterprise How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale Jez Humble, Joanne Molesky, Barry O’Reilly
  • Empowered Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products Chris Jones, Marty Cagan
  • Escaping the Build Trap How Effective Management Creates Real Value Melissa Perri
  • Unlearn Let Go of Past Success to Achieve Extraordinary Results Barry O’Reilly
  • Financial Intelligence A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean Karen Berman, Joe Knight
  • Multipliers How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter Liz Wiseman
  • Measure What Matters How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs John Doerr
  • The Heart of Business Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism Hubert Joly
  • The Coaching Habit Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever Michael Bungay Stanier
  • Crossing the Chasm Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers Geoffrey A. Moore
  • Investments Unlimited A Novel About DevOps, Security, Audit Compliance, and Thriving in the Digital Age Bill Bensing, Jason Cox, Michael Edenzon, Topo Pal, John Rzezotarski, Helen Beal, Caleb Queern, Andres Vega
  • Wiring the Winning Organization Liberating Our Collective Greatness through Slowification, Simplification, and Amplification Gene Kim, Steven J. Spear
  • Transformed Moving to the Product Operating Model Marty Cagan
  • The No Club Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work Linda Babcock, Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund, Laurie Weingart

many more not listed here

Software engineering and architecture

  • Clean Code A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship Robert C. Martin
  • Design Patterns Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides
  • Refactoring Improving the Design of Existing Code Martin Fowler
  • The Pragmatic Programmer Your Journey to Mastery Andrew Hunt, David Thomas
  • Domain-Driven Design Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software Eric Evans
  • The Mythical Man-Month Essays on Software Engineering Fred Brooks
  • Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture Martin Fowler
  • Software Architecture in Practice Len Bass, Paul Clements, Rick Kazman

Would you like to dive into a discussion?

Whether it’s about any of these books, the two hundred others I’ve read, or something you highly recommend — I’d love to hear from you.

Let’s talk