Kanban in Action - Marcus Hammarberg & Joakim Sunden

Too much work and too little time? 

If this is daily life for your team, you need kanban, a lean knowledge-management method designed to involve all team members in continuous improvement of your process. Kanban in Action is a practical down-to-earth, no-frills, get-to-know-the-ropes introduction to kanban.
Written by two kanban coaches who have taught the method to dozens of teams, the book covers techniques for planning and forecasting, establishing meaningful metrics, visualizing queues and bottlenecks, and constructing and using a kanban board.
Written for all members of the development team, including leaders, coders, and business stakeholders. 
No experience with kanban is required.

What's Inside 

•     How to focus on work in process and finish faster
•     Examples of successful implementations
•     How team members can make informed decisions

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com]

Goodreads Rating - 4.19 out of 5 (79 Ratings, 20 Reviews)
My Rating:  4 out of 5. 

Buying Options 
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The Winning Way - Anita Bhogle & Harsha Bhogle

Learnings from Sport for Managers

What do sporting champions do, what makes winning teams, who is a good leader, why do only some teams keep winning while others win only for a while and then lose… 
Contrary to popular perception, ability is not a major distinguishing factor in success, especially as the level of competition increases. 
But if you combine your ability with the right attitude and the passion to excel, you too can become the best you can be. 
That is the universal formula for winning that this book explores.

The authors - Harsha Bhogle,  a sports commentator and writer, and Anita Bhogle, an Advertising and communication consultant, have previously conducted a series of motivational workshops for many corporates.
This book is a collation of their learnings during these workshops. 
A great read, this book helps you to delve into the world of sports and you discover that the road to success is paved by the same bricks, irrespective of the field one is hoping to succeed in. 
The basic ability to succeed is within each one of us. 
But combining this ability with the right attitude, a thirst to excel, and an unceasing passion make a world of a difference.
In The Winning Way: Learnings From Sport For Managers, the authors cite several examples from the sports world, each example leaves the reader with lingering afterthoughts, inspiration, and a valuable lesson. 
This book may be offhandedly perceived as yet another ‘Guideline to success 101’ lesson, but the uniqueness of the book lies in the fact that all these ‘guidelines’ have been explained through a sports viewpoint, making it far more engaging.
If you are one of those people who gain motivation through the relentless triumphs of sportsmen and sportswomen, this book will reveal the secret behind their formulas of success. 
Although the target audience of this book is primarily corporate managers, this is a great book about leadership and consistency and can be enjoyed by just about anyone due to its easy, yet captivating flow. 
Harsha’s vast knowledge of sports, coupled with Anita’s experience in the corporate world has helped them work through this book with expert ease.

(Book Description Source: Amazon.com and Flipkart.com)

My Comments:
The last chapter of this book "What it Means to be a Team Player" is by Rahul Dravid, the epitome of sportsman spirit in cricket in recent years.
On the whole this book is a very light, interesting and insightful read.
It will appeal to both business and sports persons.
Anyone who is part of a team should read this !

Goodreads Rating - 3.48 out of 5 ( 459 Ratings)

 
 
Buy the Kindle book version.
(Anybody can read Kindle books—even without a Kindle device—with the FREE Kindle app for smartphones and tablets.)

When Teams Collide - Richard D. Lewis

International teams are now a reality in multinational organizations. In this book, Richard D. Lewis, an internationally known cross-cultural consultant and trainer provides guidelines on how to successfully assemble, manage and strengthen international teams.
This is an an useful guidebook for those working on international teams.
Buy the Kindle book version.
(Anybody can read Kindle books—even without a Kindle device—with the FREE Kindle app for smartphones and tablets.) 
Read my summary and listing of key takeaways from this book in my professional blog.

Beautiful Teams

Editors:        Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene 

Published    2009 

Publisher:    O'Reilley 

Paperback: 510 pages. 

This book provides deep insights into what makes a good team tick, and what one can do to make a mediocre team better.
The industry experts share their experiences, viewpoints, inspiring and interesting stories in form of articles and interviews. Their contributions cover a wide spectrum of industries and areas of interest.
Every contributor has something interesting, important, and, most significantly, useful to say about teams: how they work, how to build them, and how they break down.
Though several of their ideas are conflicting they have all worked well in different situations because all projects are unique and all teams are different. This reinforces the fact that there is no One Correct Way to form and manage teams.

A must read for every Project Manager and Team Member !
For chapter-wise summary of this book, visit my professional blog. 

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Original Edition)

Author: Patrick Lencioni

Published: 2008

Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Paperback: 240 pages

This book is a must read for those executives who wants to bring about team leadership culture in their organization and also highly recommended for Agile Coaches, ScrumMasters and Scrum Team members .

It has been published as a manga (comic book) edition too. In fact I read the manga edition first and summarized it in one of my previous blog post.

I then got hold of this original book hoping to gather more insights and details about the five dysfunctions of a team. However it proved to be an unnecessary exercise since the manga edition seems to have done a great job of bringing out all the key points of this book.

Read my blog post on the manga edition of this book.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Manga Edition)

Author: Patrick Lencioni

Illustrator: Kensuke Okabayashi

Published: 2008

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd.

Paperback: 174 pages

A must read for those executives who wants to bring about team leadership culture  in their organization. Also highly recommended for Agile Coaches, ScrumMasters and Scrum Team members since Agile highly values  teamwork.

Read more about this book in my Professional Blog.