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    Ongoing observations by End Point Dev people

    Work philosophy canon

    Jon Jensen

    By Jon Jensen
    May 7, 2018

    people sitting on couch reading on tablet and laptop

    Shared culture

    Having some shared culture is important for working together well, and we can build that culture on familiar terminology, understanding, experiences, stories, and ideas.

    To help give all of us at End Point some common reference points, we have collected a set of valuable articles and books that we encourage everyone to read.

    Some of these have been standard reading at End Point for more than a decade, while others have been added over the years since we began doing this. Some are short and simple, others more in-depth. Our list is intentionally general, mostly avoiding specific technologies that only a subset of us use.

    No one article or book can be entirely authoritative for all situations, but each gives us more of the wisdom out there to consider and judiciously apply where it fits.

    Slow and steady

    When new employees start at End Point, we ask them to read the articles during their first week or two, and the relevant books within roughly their first year.

    Reading only a little at each sitting and spreading the reading out over time allows the ideas to sink in gradually and be incorporated into our work, rather than overwhelming with new information that cannot all be absorbed at once.

    For everyone

    Because we work in the software development industry, it is important that not only technical people such as developers, database experts, and system administrators be part of the shared culture. Everyone else at End Point including designers, project managers, sales, marketing, etc. should also be familiar with these articles and the terms and concepts they discuss:

    For developers

    These articles and books are targeted primarily at developers but enlightening for everyone:

    Any others?

    We are always on the lookout for other readings that are helpful, so feel free to leave a comment with your favorites!

    (Updated in early 2021 with articles on Git commit messages and history spelunking, and Choose Boring Technology.)

    company books training culture


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