Saturday, August 30, 2008

Learning Business: The Joel on Software MBA

More than a NumberI've decided to read the books from the Fog Creek Software Management Training Program. Well, at least the top ten books.

Why? I'm a big fan of Joel Spolsky's writings and musings. Joel's almost like a software folk hero. When he and Jeff Atwood picked out their favorite books in StackOverflow podcast #12, I knew I had to read them.

Second, I'm a software henchman with entrepreneurial aspirations. Aside from losing money on a small business, I need to take some actions towards the dream. Maybe these fancy business books will help me with my biggest failings: sales and marketing.

Finally, despite my title, around 80% of my real job becomes software engineering. I don't want to be a big-company manager, but maybe knowing a bit about the management side will prove useful. I've always wondered what my management actually does.

I'll report back on what I learn.