• Best project management books on psychology
  • The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
  • Factfulness by Hans Rosling
  • When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  • Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
• Good leadership books for project managers
  • Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
  • The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim
  • The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• People management books
  • Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
  • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
  • Team of Teams by Chris Fussell et al.

Best Project Management Books on Psychology

Surfing on Quora recently, I saw a question about the best project management books on psychology. So read on how to change a habit, think clearly, choose perfect timing, increase productivity, and more in this list.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is a book in frequent rotation in project management circles. In short, it reveals how to create a habit and get rid of one. Using research and numerous examples from people’s lives, the author shows a paradigm of actions that might help practically anyone break even the most difficult habits and develop healthier ones.

The most valuable lesson that the book gives is the understanding that even habits of a lifetime can be changed. By analyzing your routine through the glass of Duhigg’s approach, you will start to realize what drives your habits and find a way to kick them.

No wonder that this book has been mentioned by project managers as a recent favorite. It may become a helping hand in team management that points you what directions to take when you want your team members to acquire new habits.

Factfulness by Hans Rosling

Factfulness by Hans Rosling is another must-read in the list of top project management books. In fact, it remains #1 bestseller in Psychology Statistics on Amazon.

Even Bill Gates admitted that it was one of the most important books he’s ever read in his life. So why is there so much buzz around Factfulness?

A collective work of the Rosling’s family that has around 18 years of experience behind their backs, Factfulness opens our eyes to phenomenal things that we as human beings usually misinterpret, worse than a chimpanzee could if given a chance.

The main intention of this book is to show people how to think clearly and “fight devastating ignorance,” admits Mr. Rosling, Professor of International Health and global TED speaker.

Factfulness exposes the ten instincts that distort human perspective. For example, we have “a tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them)” and our way to consume information from media is driven by fear. We usually perceive progress wrong, believing that most things are getting worse.

What Rosling is trying to say in his book is that our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. This is definitely a book project managers should read to learn to embrace the worldview based on facts, because otherwise, “we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.”

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink reveals hidden patterns of the day to improve the performance of anyone, including project management leaders. Anyway, time is what we want most, but what we use worst, agree?

Researching energy levels during different times of the day across many cultures, Pink has formed an understanding when people usually experience peak and diminished performance.

The results of his research can help anyone improve productivity and even fight the dreaded post-lunch slump!

It is one of my top books for project managers, because we, together with our teams, just have to master the science of timing for our own good.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a time-tested classic among books every project manager should read at least once.

I particularly like Carnegie more for how he writes – his prose is so light and revealing that you immediately want to read all of his books. It is perfect for summer vacation and anything but boring.

Carnegie’s book, without any doubt, has left an imprint in project management as well. It can teach management experts of all kind to take any situation and make it work for them. With little tricks and human psychology in its foundation, the book answers the next questions:

• How to make people like you
• How to win people to your way of thinking
• How to change people without arousing resentment

Eventually, it’s all about people and how to interact with each other.

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman was a successful attempt to prove why high IQ is no guarantee of success. Combining his experience from psychology and neuroscience, the author managed to explain the difference between our “two minds” manifested in the rational and the emotional.

It pops up from Goleman’s research that there are five crucial skills of emotional intelligence cultivating which you can succeed at work, achieve mutual understanding in the relationships, and improve physical well-being.

The conclusion of this book is that being smart doesn’t necessarily boil down to a high IQ. Developing emotional literacy can improve your performance in life.

Emotional Intelligence is one of the best books for project managers as it can help cultivate your soft skills.

Good Leadership Books for Project Managers

The authors of the following project management books have brilliant answers to the question that has been on everyone’s mind. What makes a good leader? What distinguishes high performers from people who lag behind?

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell presents in-depth insights into qualities that distinguish high-achievers and leaders. The main intention of the author is to not only emphasize the brightest virtues but to reveal where successful people come from and explore the connection between their past and their future.

Outliers is one of the best books for project managers to read because it reveals many secrets of high-achievers – from software billionaires to soccer players. The book answers the question of why Asians are good at math and reveals the secret of Beatles success.

A perfect entertaining must-read for a summer vacation, don’t you think so?

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant presents a new take on the world of championing ideas and confronting group thinking.

According to Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, “It will not only change the way you see the world; it might just change the way you live your life. And it could very well inspire you to change your world.”

In short, the book shows leaders how to produce original ideas in light of examples from business, politics, sports, and entertainment. The author, a world-known expert and thought leader in psychology, reveals tips on how to challenge conventional thinking.

Don’t miss the #1 New York Times bestseller!

The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim

The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim is an entertaining story about Bill, one IT project manager. No wonder, he is tasked with business vital Phoenix Project, already massively over budget and behind schedule. Threatening to outsource Bill’s entire department, the CEO orders Bill to finish the project in ninety days.

With the growing complexity of IT, every project manager should read this story of failures and successes. Tim O’Reilly, Founder & CEO at O’Reilly Media, believes it’s “a great way to get non-technical managers to understand what developers do.”

Other reviewers are of the same opinion. The Phoenix Project is regarded as a must-read for anyone with a mission to transform their IT to make business win.

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande is a good project management book despite being written by a surgeon. The author intends to show the power of checklists and how effective they can be in solving catastrophic situations. Learning from many failures in the aviation, finance and medical industry, Gawande delivers a case for compiling short checklists to improve the processes in teamwork.

From this project management book, as expected, you’ll learn the types of checklists and how to make one. It will be especially handy for project management practitioners to create order out of chaos in work environments.

People Management Books

People are our main leverage for achieving success. Where would we be without their support? Let’s learn how to be a better version of a people manager with these books.

Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister is a project management book written at the end of the 20th century in the form of essays, considered a classic in the software engineering domain.

The reviewers admit that the book is a must-read for software developers, project managers, directors, creative people, and knowledge workers.

Putting relevant consulting experience to words, the authors share the idea that most of the bottlenecks emerging in software projects are by no means related to technology – they are the exact results of relations between people.

Despite being written in the last century, the book will never lose its relevance as it focuses on people and implies that managers are the ones to remove obstacles and roadblocks.

Reading Peopleware, you’ll arm yourself with tactics and learn how to prevent your developers from unnecessary distractions to increase their productivity.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni is another leadership fable in his collection the author is so famous for. But this time, Lencioni immerses into the complex world of teams.

The book brings to light the five dysfunctions which explain to the very core why even the best teams may clash. It also provides an ingenious model together with actionable steps to follow if there’s a need to overcome common problems appearing inside a team.

The book is a must-read for project managers and leaders as it explains group behavior and reveals why some teams fail as a unit.

Team of Teams by Chris Fussell et al.

Team of Teams by Chris Fussell et al. tells a story of General Stanley McChrystal who was in charge of the Joint Special Operations Task Force fighting against Al Qaeda.

This real-life example puts on the map the question every project manager is puzzled with today: How can I scale agile methodology to thousands of people and not fail?

Fussel’s book intends to answer this question by presenting the challenges McChrystal faced in Iraq and translating them into ones relevant to organizations today.

It’s one of the top books for project managers to read, sharing an eye-opening story and lessons on how agile can be scaled and growth maintained.

Enough for one summer, yeap? These project management books will help you improve both as individuals and as professionals. Let me know which one from the list you liked best and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter. Also, check our roundup of top books on giving feedback. A reader lives a thousand lives!

The post A Summer Reading List for Project Managers appeared first on PM Column.

Canada

Susan McIsaac, PMP, ITIL, Board Director at PMI Toronto

Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

Kiron Bondale, Senior Project Management Consultant at World Class Productivity Inc.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

Daryl Uhrin, Project Manager at Standard Machine

Under One Roof by Barry Martin and Philip Lerman

United States

Barbara Chatzkel, President at New River Group, LLC

New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World–And How to Make It Work for You by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms.

The age of unprecedented connectivity is an age of new power. Not only does the book explain the “what” is happening, it also provides valuable “how” explanations of how to use the new power today. A good read.

Gregory Christensen, Project Director at GlaxoSmithKline

Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James

Markham Beverly, Project Coordinator at PwC

Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 by John C. Maxwell

Jenell White, Senior Project Manager at Fiserv, Inc.

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg

In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs by Grace Bonney

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

I mentioned the last book not because it’s about business, but about life and time. Often as project managers it is imperative for ourselves and our teams to remember that there is more to life than work and to remind our teams to truly disconnect and/or appreciate the small things/ accomplishments.

Brenda Peschel, Project Manager at State Farm

Tribal Unity: Getting from Teams to Tribes by Creating a One Team Culture by Em Campbell-Pretty

Paridhi Singh, IT Project Manager at Freedom Mortgage

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

Valorie Anderson, CV Section Head Manager and Data Manager at BAE Systems

Sachin Shah, Strategic Planning Coordinator at FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

I’ve been thinking a lot about the actual small changes my project asks people to make – open the new application instead of the old one — and the big changes. I’ve began identifying behavioral requirements that functional and technical requirements have to support.

Bob Tarne, Agile Coach and Public Speaker

Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy by Amy C. Edmondson

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Maribel Canino, Experienced IT Professional and former Project Manager

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland

Suzanne Dunn, Project Manager at Suzanne Dunn Consulting

The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves by The Arbinger Institute

The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict by The Arbinger Institute

Fred Massabki, Managing Engineer at Anchor QEA

The New Alpha: Join the Rising Movement of Influencers and Changemakers Who are Redefining Leadership by Danielle Harlan

The Art of Persuasion: How to Influence People and Get What You Want by Juliet Erickson

Stefania Forner, Project Manager for the UCI Alzheimer Disease Modeling Project

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Mexico

Eric Adrián Ramírez Corona, Project Manager and Facilitator for Innovation at Autónomo, Mexico

The High-Impact PMO: How Agile Project Management Offices Deliver Value in a Complex World by Philippe Husser

Straight-Line Leadership: Tools for Living with Velocity and Power in Turbulent Times by Dusan Djukich

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t by Verne Harnish

David Levine, Project Manager at Sunpower

Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Tim Jerome, Project Management, Advisor, Consultant

The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company Hardcover by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, James Noel

The book gives one a great framework for leadership development, that goes beyond just ‘here’s what a leader does.’

Guatemala

Rodrigo Baccaro, Executive Coach and Team Coach

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

It is a fairly complete story about the origin of homo sapiens to this day. It is a book with excellent common sense, a lot of depth in historical details and a clarity that allows us to understand the why of our days.

Brazilia

Paulo de Tarso Bittencourt Cunha, Project Manager at Mais2X

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

Jamaica

Oldane Graham, Project Management Consultant

The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim

United Kingdom

Toby Quirk, Project Manager at Taylor Wimpey

The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage by Ryan Holiday

The reason I have enjoyed this book so much is that we, as project managers, face new and difficult obstacles on an almost daily basis and this book provides real tips and strategies to allow the reader to see the advantage in every unforeseen situation that occurs and particularly those that seem problematic.

Reece Bowman, Programme Lead at Capita

The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945 by James Jinks and Peter Hennessy

The sections on the coordination and programme management required to develop and put to sea our nuclear deterrent in the 1960s are particularly relevant. Close military and industrial collaboration with the United States against the strategic backdrop of an escalating cold war with the Soviet Union. Political controversy with the Labour Party stance on the deterrent – it’s probably one of the biggest, most significant and difficult programmes we’ve delivered as a nation.

Sue Slater, Change Management and Local Government Consultant

Agile Change Management: A Practical Framework for Successful Change Planning and Implementation by Melanie Franklin

Germany

Daniela Villarroel, Project Engineer at 3M

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World by Hans Rosling

Ukraine

Nataliya Hromova, Project Manager at HYS Enterprise

The Art of Systems Thinking by Joseph O’Connor and Ian McDermott — to improve your problem-solving skills.

Management 3.0 Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders by Jurgen Appelo — about healthy, sensible and down-to-earth management.

Peopleware. Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister — if you think “people first” as it really is.

Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision Making by Sam Kaner — how to lead the groups to the best decisions.

Romania

Adrian Zamfirescu, Administrative Manager at Tiriac Auto

NLP at Work: The Essence of Excellence by Sue Knight

Paid to Think: A Leader’s Toolkit for Redefining Your Future by David Goldsmith

The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action by Jeffrey Pfeffer & Robert Sutton

Russia

Anton Tsvetkov, VP of Project Management in Financial Technology Industry

Never Split the Difference by Christopher Voss and Tahl Raz

The book explains great and very applicable principles or tools used by professional hostage negotiators supplied with real life examples.

Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

An easy reading yet highlighting some fundamental team-building principles.

Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by Chris Fussell, David Silverman, Stanley A. McChrystal, and Tantum Collins

The book respects existing challenges of large organizations and provides a view of how it all should work together.

India

Anil Sharma, Project Manager at BT Telecommunications

The Power of Project Leadership by Susanne Madsen

It’s an end-to-end practical guide shared from 20 years of experience. The book is exhaustive in every practical sense from People, Programme, and Project Management to successful Delivery perspective.

Vishwas Mahajan, Founder of the Enterprise Project Management Suite at Whizible

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling

As Project Managers there are so many biases we can steer clear of and these books open our perspectives.

Prabhat Pant, Associate Director at PwC India

Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities by Adam Kahane

Indonesia

Steve Robson, VP of Project Management at TRIPATRA

Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Iran

Vahid Farahdoust, Project Manager at Dana Energy

The CEO Difference: How to Climb, Crawl, and Leap Your Way to the Next Level of Your Career by Debra A. Benton

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Payam Ghanavati, Technical Manager at Aria Civil

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek.

Pakistan

Khadija Saeed, Senior Project Manager at Zameen.com

The Startup Way: How Modern Companies Use Entrepreneurial Management to Transform Culture and Drive Long-Term Growth by Eric Ries

This book will help you inculcate entrepreneurial management skills in project management for transforming culture and driving growth in an organization.

Nigeria

Emmanuel Iziomoh, Programme Officer at Riplington Education Initiative

Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle by Dan Senor and Saul Singer

It postulates unconventional approaches to solving real problems, a skill every Project Manager should possess. One of the most important thing of this book is the power of imagination, it is absolutely free. Most of the time, as Project Managers, we don’t need to see to believe. All we have to do is to imagine it and believe.

South Africa

Doug Kirchmann, Project Management Consultant at ProjectLink

Social Media for Project Managers by Elizabeth Harrin

The Power of Time Perception: Control the Speed of Time to Slow Down Aging, Live a Long Life, and Make Every Second Count by Jean Paul Zogby

How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business by Douglas W. Hubbard.

Australia

Pete Adams, Senior Project Manager at Innodev Pty Ltd

The Founder’s Mentality by Chris Zook

The value for me was finding the ‘sweet spot’ of just enough governance to get the job done without losing the company’s agile edge. It also stresses the importance of maintaining a founder’s vision throughout the project life cycle. A great book for any expanding business, particularly in the consulting realm.

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore

I have a strong interest in innovation (blockchain in particular), so it’s been a valuable resource in terms of the challenges of bringing change to the masses; a vital aspect of delivering successful projects.

Brett Seriani, Senior Project Manager at CommTel Network Solutions

The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch

Deeksha Rastogi, PMO Manager

Project Management Metrics, KPIs, and Dashboards: A Guide to Measuring and Monitoring Project Performance by Harold Kerzner

New Zealand

Shane Riley, Capital Project Manager at Dairy Goat Co-operative

The Conscious Project Leader: How to Create a Culture of Success for Your Projects, Your Team and Yourself by Collin D. Ellis

The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness by Steve Peters

The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier

The article does not intend to promote or advertise any of the above-mentioned books. It’s based on real feedback from project managers collected via the following LinkedIn Group discussions:

Discussion 1 in The Project Manager Network – #1 Group for Project Managers

Discussion 2 in PMI Project, Program and Portfolio Management: #1 group for career advancement.

Also, you might want to have a look at Elizabeth Harrin’s review of project management books or check these 5 new books to succeed as a digital project manager.

Anything missing? You’re a project manager who couldn’t make it to tell the world about a favorite book of yours? Leave it below in the comments section and we’ll make sure that it becomes the part of our list.

*The countries are sorted in no particular order. 

Illustration: Copyright © Zhenya Oliinyk

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