I know somewhat less about engineering management due to not having worked as an engineering manager, but I enjoy reading about it. As for being a leader within engineering organizations as an individual contributor, I suppose you'd have to ask my current and former coworkers but again I've read quite a bit. I like to think that I have done a reasonable job of keeping up with emerging standards of practice and learning how to speak up when it counts and how to empower other ICs to do more fulfilling work.
By no means a definitive list of books on this topic, just some I have read and found useful.
Links go to non-Amazon sources where I found them, support your local bookstore where possible!
An Elegant Puzzle, Will Larson
Design for Safety, Eva PenzeyMoog
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Just Enough Research, Erika Hall
The Manager's Path, Camille Fournier
The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, W. Edwards Deming
- note: I read this in 2006 when trying to figure out how to improve the relationship between a community mental health agency and the government agencies we billed for services (county government, medicaid). It's informed my thinking around "devops" more than any other source except perhaps the John Willis/Damon Edwards podcasts.
Release It!, Michael Nygard
Resilient Management, Lara Hogan
Staff Engineer, Will Larson
Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control, Walter A. Shewhart, W. Edwards Deming
Team Topologies, Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais
Just a selection of links from folks who have inspired me over the years. If I've included more material from one of these folks than others, that doesn't mean they've influenced me more or that I think those posts are more worthwhile, just that they came to mind when I first built this list or that when reading them I thought to add a link here.
On Being a Senior Engineer, John Allspaw
- note: Not the only thing Allspaw has written which is useful to anyone interested in leadership, but you probably already know that, reader.
People can read their manager's mind, Yossi Kreinin
- note: I include this mostly because it echoes a belief I hold about power within organizations, applied Conway's Law, and how it is likely impossible to achieve significant organizational change without sustained interest and buy-in from senior leadership. Confirmation bias is great.
Posts on leadership, Kate Matsudaira
- note: Kate Matsudaira is someone I don't often hear people talk about when discussing people they read to learn about leadership, which I think is a situation in need of correction. Excellent writing, well worth revisiting Kate's content periodically to refresh and seek new understanding.