--- title: "Engineering leadership reading list | Marian Kamenistak" description: "The reading list I share with every mentee. Engineering leadership, product, coaching. Blogs, podcasts, books — curated, not scraped." url: "https://www.marian.coach/knowledge/" lang: "en" image: "https://www.marian.coach/_astro/speaker-11.5jzeDN0W_2rqHJb.jpg" --- # Leaders worth following spend 30-60 minutes a day reading. Here's my list. This is [the reading list I share with every mentee](https://www.marian.coach/blog/great-people-are-active-in-self-learning/). Not everything I've ever read. The 30-ish sources that still show up in [my own weekly rotation](https://www.marian.coach/blog/learn-or-die/) and that I recommend when someone asks "what should I be reading?". Blogs first, then podcasts, then books. The books are the ones I re-read. ## Engineering leadership blogs - [Jade Rubick](https://www.rubick.com/) — Advises startup founders and leaders. - [Will Larson — Irrational Exuberance](https://lethain.com/) — Platform and infrastructure engineering. - [The Pragmatic Engineer — Gergely Orosz](https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/) — Best paid newsletter for senior EMs and Staff+. - [Lara Hogan](https://larahogan.me/blog) — Coaching for tech managers and leaders. - [John Cutler](https://cutlefish.substack.com/) — Product ops, systems thinking, cross-functional patterns. - [LeadDev — Team & Management](https://leaddev.com/category/team) — Engineering leadership articles, curated. - [FirstRound Review](https://review.firstround.com/articles) — Long-form startup and management essays. - [Rands in Repose — Michael Lopp](https://randsinrepose.com/) — The originals: Managing Humans, tech-leader personality patterns. - [Corporate Rebels](https://corporate-rebels.com/archives) — Real experiments in changing how organisations work. - [Unfix — Jurgen Appelo](https://unfix.work/) — Org design patterns beyond Spotify Model. - [The Engineering Manager](https://www.theengineeringmanager.com/growth/) — Curated resources for EMs at every stage. ## Product leadership blogs - [John Cutler — The Beautiful Mess](https://cutlefish.substack.com/) — Product ops, prioritisation, systems. - [SVPG — Marty Cagan](https://www.svpg.com/articles/) — Product management first-principles. - [Melissa Perri — Product Thinking](https://melissaperri.com/blog/) — Escaping the Build Trap, product operating models. - [Rich Mironov](https://www.mironov.com/) — Product-org economics and coaching. - [Roman Pichler](https://www.romanpichler.com/blog/) — Product strategy and roadmaps. - [Jeff Patton](https://www.jpattonassociates.com/category/articles/) — Story maps, discovery, product life-cycle. - [One Knight in Product](https://www.oneknightinproduct.com/) — Interviews with senior product leaders. - [Department of Product](https://www.departmentofproduct.com/) — Weekly product news and analysis. ## Podcasts - [The Pragmatic Engineer podcast](https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/podcast) — Gergely Orosz interviewing senior engineering leaders. - [Modern CTO](https://moderncto.io/) — Kipp Sorensen with practising CTOs. - [LeadDev podcast](https://leaddev.com/) — Talks from LeadDev conferences. - [Software Engineering Daily](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/) — Daily conversations with practitioners. ## Books I re-read - Radical Candor — Kim Scott Care personally, challenge directly. The framework I use with every new mentee for the first three sessions. - Never Split the Difference — Chris Voss Negotiation. Half of engineering leadership is negotiation dressed as something else. - Strong Product People — Petra Wille Growing product managers — the closest analog we have to growing EMs. - Escaping the Build Trap — Melissa Perri How product-led orgs work. Read this before you write your next OKR set. - Managing Humans — Michael Lopp Field notes from a career in tech management. Still the book I hand new EMs first. - The Manager's Path — Camille Fournier Ladder rungs from TL to CTO with concrete responsibilities per level. - An Elegant Puzzle — Will Larson Systems thinking applied to engineering orgs. Repeatable playbooks. There's a longer, unfiltered list on [GitHub](https://github.com/marian-kamenistak/Software-engineering-management-lab/blob/master/Feeds%20Engineering%20Management.md). Missing something you think should be here? Tell me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariankamenistak/). ## From the blog [All posts →](https://www.marian.coach/blog/) - [![Great people are active in self-learning](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-covers/great-people-are-active-in-self-learning.webp) ### Great people are active in self-learning Top picks of engineering management and leadership: the books, blogs, and podcasts I keep recommending to my mentees, and why each earns its slot. 15 November 2020 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/great-people-are-active-in-self-learning/) - [![Full auditorium audience at an engineering leadership conference where Marian Kamenistak spoke.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/speaker-09.Cgx0l7B4_OIr2s.webp) ### Should I Become a Team Lead? A 6-Dimension Answer Six dimensions predict whether the team lead role will fit you, drawn from 3,400+ mentoring sessions. Take the 3-minute test, get a straight verdict. 22 July 2026 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/should-i-become-a-team-lead/) - [![Marian Kamenistak facilitating a workshop, mid-gesture, in front of a slide about roadmap delivery.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/talk-16.BOCFjZmx_2dJH3d.webp) ### AI Agents Don't Shrink Engineering Teams. They Expose Weak Managers. What AI coding agents change about the first-line engineering manager job: not headcount first, but feedback loops, spans, and what the role is for. 21 July 2026 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/ai-agents-first-line-engineering-manager/) ## Structured data ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ProfessionalService","name":"Marian Kamenistak | Engineering Leadership Mentoring","url":"https://www.marian.coach/knowledge/","image":"https://www.marian.coach/_astro/speaker-11.5jzeDN0W_2rqHJb.jpg","description":"The reading list I share with every mentee. 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