Buy.Ology – How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy Is Wrong

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Gopinath

Author: Martin Lindstrom
Published: 2009
Publisher: Random House Business Books
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Neuromarketing is an emerging field where sophisticated techniques like fMRI and EEG are used to study the responses of the brain cells to the marketing stimuli. This will help us to learn why a buyer bought what he bought and what part of the brain told him to take that decision. Thus neuromarketing may help in creation of Purple Cow (remarkable) products and services and advertisements that will entice the buyers and make money for the producers.
This book describes the author’s pioneering three and half year, $7 million dollar neuromarketing study conducted on over 2000 people from around the world using fMRI and EEG. The results of this study reveals why so much of what we thought we knew about why we buy is wrong. It shatters several advertising myths and unearths some interesting facts.
A very interesting read with lots of fascinating examples !

For Key Takeaways from this book visit Bookworm Reads: Buy.Ology – How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy Is Wrong

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Purple Cow – Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Gopinath

Author: Seth Godin
Published: 2002
Publisher: Penguin Group
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This book is about niche marketing.
Seth Godin offers rather a common sense insight into niche marketing in a very simple and conversational style. Nothing new or profound here. It may have been so when this book was first published in 2002.
He sounds rather repetitive and keeps flogging the same horse.
A plus point of this book is this. Nearly 20 case studies and examples drawn from more than 250 brands/companies packed in this small book (less than 150 pages) to illustrate the Purple Cow Concept.

For key points from this book visit Bookworm Reads:Purple Cow – Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.

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A Discipline for Software Engineering

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Gopinath

Author: Watts S. Humphrey
Published: 1995
Publisher: Pearson Education, Inc.

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The author Watts Humphrey needs no introduction to the software engineering community. He was a real “process innovator” whose pioneering work led to the development of the widely known and implemented Capability Maturity Model (CMM/ CMMI). While this model helped in instilling some discipline to the chaotic way of developing software which existed in the organizations, Watts Humphrey believed in catching the software engineers young in their schools itself and teach them a disciplined way of developing software.
Thus Personal Software Process (PSP) was born and this book is a complete guide to this process.
PSP is taught in this book through a series of 10 programming exercises, requiring progressively higher levels of process discipline. All the required forms, templates,checklists, process scripts for this purpose are made available in the appendices (which forms almost 40 % of the book’s bulk !).
This book is almost a text book and definitely not for light reading. At the same time it is not too difficult to grasp for any software engineer.
In my view this book should form a mandatory part of any software engineering curriculum.
A must read for all software engineers and proponents of Agile too (since I could sense the principles of agile development throughout the process) !
However it needs to be revisited and overhauled to fit the current scenario of software development (this book was written 1995 !).

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Information Security Management Principles

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Gopinath
Authors: David Alexander, Amanda Finch, David Sutton
Editor: Andy Taylor
Published: 2009
Publisher: The British Computer Society

This book is aligned to the syllabus of the CISMP (Certificate in Information Security Management Principles) exam conducted by the British Computer Society.
Overall a fairly good and concise introductory book on this subject.

Read more about this book at Bookworm Reads: Information Security Management Principles.

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The 60 Second Leader

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Gopinath

Author: Phil Dourado
Published: 2007
Publisher: Wiley India Pvt. Ltd.
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Is it possible to compile quotes, concepts, references on leadership in a book without making it look like a dictionary or an encyclopedia ? Yes it is and that’s what the author Phil Dourado a leadership consultant has precisely done.
He has dived into oceans of books, theories and courses on leadership to extract 30 pearls of leadership wisdom and offers them to the readers in a very concise (less than 200 pages) book.
If you are too busy to read everything to read on leadership, this is the ONE BOOK which you should read!

Read more about this book at Bookworm Reads: The 60 Second Leader.

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From Edison to iPod:Protect Your Ideas And Make Money

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Gopinath

Author: Frederick Mostert
Published: 2007
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley

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If you want to protect your intellectual property (IP) rights but don’t know how to go about it, this book is a perfect starting point.
A Must Read Book especially for creative people (designers,artists, musicians), entrepreneurs with unique concepts, and investors who are approached with new ideas.

Read more about this book at Bookworm Reads: From Edison to iPod:Protect Your Ideas And Make Money.

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Moral Intelligence

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Gopinath
Authors: Doug Lennick, Fred Kiel
Published: 2007
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing
A landmark book in which the authors have put forward convincing arguments that business and ethics do go well together.
It is a moral science lesson for the business leaders. A MUST READ !
Read more about this book at Bookworm Reads: Moral Intelligence.
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What The Customer Wants You To Know

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Gopinath
Author: Ram Charan
Published: 2007
Publisher: Penguin Group
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This book by Ram Charan, an internationally acclaimed management consultant, is primarily targeted at Sales function in organizations.
The book highlights what is wrong with conventional approach of selling in most of the organizations. Sales force interacts mainly with customer’s purchasing department and the entire sales discussion revolves around price.
As per Ram Charan this alone will not ensure a healthy top-line growth of an organization. He proposes an approach called Value Creation Selling (VCS).
Ram Charan firmly believes VCS is the way an organization should adopt to get ahead of its competition for it fosters stronger customer relationships and results in long-term rewards in terms of market share and revenue.
An excellent introduction to VCS in a concise and easy to read format! Recommended for anyone who is in the selling business. This literally means everyone in an organization as per VCS !
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The Goal II – It’s Not Luck

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Gopinath

Author: Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Published: 2005
Publisher: Productivity & Quality Publishing

This business novel is a sequel to the book The Goal which had introduced the concepts of Theory of Constraints (TOC) and shown its application in a manufacturing scenario.
Through this novel, the Goldratt teaches us Thinking Process techniques for solving problems using Current Reality Tree, which incorporates UnDesirable Effects (UDEs) and then a Future Reality Tree. He also teaches us how to make use of a Transition Tree to move from Current Reality to Future Reality.In addition technique of Vendor Managed Inventory is also presented.
Very well written and absorbing read. However more diagrams to illustrate step-by-step how the above Trees evolved would have enabled better understanding of the techniques.
A must read for all the Sales, Marketing and Business Strategy professionals !

Read more details about this book at Bookworm Reads: The Goal II – It’s Not Luck.

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Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Gopinath


Authors: Greg Smith, Ahmed Sidky
Published: 2009
Publisher: Manning Publications Co.

The authors of Manifesto for Agile Software Development unambiguously acknowledge the value of processes and tools, comprehensive documentation, contract negotiation and following a plan, even though they place more importance on individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration and responding to change.
However many agile zealots are totally closed to the idea that there may be something good in traditional software process development and demean anything related to it. So it was a real pleasant surprise to come across this book written by two agilists – Greg Smith and Ahmed Sidky, who do not believe in throwing the baby out with the bath water in their enthusiasm to introduce agile methods in an organization.There are many good books on agile principles and techniques. But this is the first book I have come across which lays out a detailed and systematic roadmap from the culture of traditional software development to that of an agile culture. The need for such a book has been well recognized by Mary Poppendieck, an authority on lean software development, who has written the foreword for this book.
A very well written book containing lots of useful techniques  and templates which can be easily adapted to the organization’s need.
However the case study described in this book though it illustrates the agile concepts well, seems rather smooth sailing. It could be enhanced with examples of more critical and problematic situations, normally encountered in real life projects.
Nevertheless I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to transition from the traditional way of software engineering to a more agile way.

Read more about this book at Bookworm Reads: Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World.

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