Books
I'm going to start writing notes down from books I read, ala Derek Sivers.
Business Analyst's Mentor Book - Emrah Yayici
This book was a treat, nice and short and free thanks to Kindle Unlimited. It provides an awesome summary of what a Business Analyst can and should provide. A good guide if you're just getting started.
Traction : Get A Grip On Your Business - Gino Wickman
This book I feel is heavily influenced by Work the System, so my advice is to read Work The System first as it's the better book. I think there are great pieces to take from here but it's hard to read from front to back. Skim through and take what you need. Some of the work sheets I'll revisit and use later.
How to Fail at almost everything and still win big - Scott Adams
Phenomenal book that doesn't talk down to it's readers. Surprisingly, Scott Adams the comic book writer is a great self-help writer and provides sensible advice on health, exercise, psychology, and all the mean while repeating "don't take advice from a comic writer".
Pack Leader Psychology - Harper West
I got about 65% through this book (thanks kindle!) and thought I gleaned enough from it. There are a lot of repetition so once you get through about 50% you can feel pretty confident putting it down. That first 50% however includes some great insights into approaching groups and teams and how to avoid stress and anxiety through simpler primal thinking.
Work The System
The most inspirational part about this book is how he pushed through crazy hours until eventual success in his 50s. With his daughters in mind he hustled, developed a philosophy about looking at things and succeeded. I've used his philosophy in consulting gigs and utilize the idea of guiding principles and continual process improvement.
E-Myth Revisited
This book starts off strong but then fizzles out. It's primary premise is that even though you may be working from home in your PJs you won't be able to operate and compete effectively unless you disassociate with your business and treat it as such.
Welcome to the Big Leagues
This is a great book for help in becoming more professional in your enterprise setting. It contains great practical advice for managing yourself and being a leader.
Growth Mindset
This book is in my top 3. It covers Carol Dweck's research and a myriad of anecdotes surrounding her philosophy of the growth mindset. The fundamental idea being we need to focus on learning and not treat exercises as tests against any fixed intelligence we may have. Teachers and parents fail by labelling us as smart/capable/dumb/incapable eventually depriving us of the intrinsic rewards of risk, learning and growing.
Choose Yourself
Altucher is a ranty writer but he brings up some thing provoking out of left field tidbits from time to time. The #1 take away, pay yourself first, the landlord, the bank, the government, they can all wait.
The Challenger Sale
This is an approach to sales and customer relations hat I have taken. It was a pleasant surprise to see it validated in this book the Challenger Sale. The premise is that sales people in complicated sales processes, usually larger complex deals, do better when acting not to build relationships but to challenge the client and most importantly help the client LEARN. Necessities with this approach include moving the client educating your client towards a solution that you can actually provide and profitably.
Todo:
Anything You Want
What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Good to Great
Power Of Habit
Business Analyst's Mentor Book - Emrah Yayici
This book was a treat, nice and short and free thanks to Kindle Unlimited. It provides an awesome summary of what a Business Analyst can and should provide. A good guide if you're just getting started.
Traction : Get A Grip On Your Business - Gino Wickman
This book I feel is heavily influenced by Work the System, so my advice is to read Work The System first as it's the better book. I think there are great pieces to take from here but it's hard to read from front to back. Skim through and take what you need. Some of the work sheets I'll revisit and use later.
How to Fail at almost everything and still win big - Scott Adams
Phenomenal book that doesn't talk down to it's readers. Surprisingly, Scott Adams the comic book writer is a great self-help writer and provides sensible advice on health, exercise, psychology, and all the mean while repeating "don't take advice from a comic writer".
Pack Leader Psychology - Harper West
I got about 65% through this book (thanks kindle!) and thought I gleaned enough from it. There are a lot of repetition so once you get through about 50% you can feel pretty confident putting it down. That first 50% however includes some great insights into approaching groups and teams and how to avoid stress and anxiety through simpler primal thinking.
Work The System
The most inspirational part about this book is how he pushed through crazy hours until eventual success in his 50s. With his daughters in mind he hustled, developed a philosophy about looking at things and succeeded. I've used his philosophy in consulting gigs and utilize the idea of guiding principles and continual process improvement.
E-Myth Revisited
This book starts off strong but then fizzles out. It's primary premise is that even though you may be working from home in your PJs you won't be able to operate and compete effectively unless you disassociate with your business and treat it as such.
Welcome to the Big Leagues
This is a great book for help in becoming more professional in your enterprise setting. It contains great practical advice for managing yourself and being a leader.
Growth Mindset
This book is in my top 3. It covers Carol Dweck's research and a myriad of anecdotes surrounding her philosophy of the growth mindset. The fundamental idea being we need to focus on learning and not treat exercises as tests against any fixed intelligence we may have. Teachers and parents fail by labelling us as smart/capable/dumb/incapable eventually depriving us of the intrinsic rewards of risk, learning and growing.
Choose Yourself
Altucher is a ranty writer but he brings up some thing provoking out of left field tidbits from time to time. The #1 take away, pay yourself first, the landlord, the bank, the government, they can all wait.
The Challenger Sale
This is an approach to sales and customer relations hat I have taken. It was a pleasant surprise to see it validated in this book the Challenger Sale. The premise is that sales people in complicated sales processes, usually larger complex deals, do better when acting not to build relationships but to challenge the client and most importantly help the client LEARN. Necessities with this approach include moving the client educating your client towards a solution that you can actually provide and profitably.
Todo:
Anything You Want
What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Good to Great
Power Of Habit
