If you know of a book which you think should be on this list, please email info@agileforall.com and let us know about it. We’d love to keep expanding our library. Keep in mind that we don’t add books without having read them ourselves first, so if you suggest something it may not show up here right away.
After reading "The Goal" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt you will feel incredibly challenged to go out and do something to help your company improve. This is high praise for a business book which reads like a novel! "The Goal" was the first book to describe the Theory of Constraints (TOC) in a way which is understandable for those of us who don't have doctoral degrees in manufacturing process. As you read the story you can see parallels to your company, which makes it even harder to put the book down.
While the book is about a manufacturing plant, it is written in way which makes it useful for any organization. We usually deal with software product development companies or IT shops, and in those organizations the Theory of Constraints is extremely useful! Recognizing bottlenecks and how to deal with them effectively is one of the keys to getting maximum performance out of agile teams. Ignoring TOC will doom most teams to reaching less than their full potential.
If you are looking for a book that reads like a novel, but allows you to improve your company when you are done reading, then this is the book for you.