limited·by·sleep
$ cd ~/published

I've read the same book every year for 10 years

I've read the same book every year for 10 years.

Not because I forgot what happens. Because I'm not the same person who picks it up each time.

The Phoenix Project found me in 2014, a Django developer at Sky learning mostly by stumbling. I thought good code was the job. This book showed me the job is much bigger than that.

It reframed how I saw organisations, bottlenecks, and why some projects succeed while others quietly suffocate.

I re-read it before interviews. Before big meetings. I've even told interviewers about it—if they haven't read it, I know we'll have an interesting conversation.

When someone I'm mentoring asks how to understand what makes projects actually work, this is the homework I give them. Every time.

The strangest part? The character I identify with keeps changing.

Over the years I've been all of them at some point. I'm still learning which one I am today.

That's what a great book does. It meets you wherever you are and shows you something new about where you've ended up.

What's a book you keep returning to?

follow via rss