Crafting Engineering Strategy

Chapter 25. Strategy Resources

One of the hardest parts of learning about engineering strategy is finding useful resources on a topic where so much is kept private. This Appendix highlights some of the public resources that I’ve found valuable during my learning experience.

My Prior Writing

• “Writing an engineering strategy” is a chapter from The Engineering Executive’s Primer on setting engineering strategy as an executive.

• “Write five, then synthesize” is a chapter from Staff Engineer on driving engineering strategy without executive authority (primarily through documentation).

Books

In addition to my own Staff Engineer and The Engineering Executive’s Primer, both of which have chapters on engineering strategy, I would encourage you to read:

• Architecture Modernization by Nick Tune with Jean-Georges Perrin (Manning, 2024) covers much of the same topics as Technology Strategy Patterns and The Value Flywheel Effect, but with more recent examples and references.

• Enterprise Architecture as Strategy by Jeanne Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson (Harvard Business Review Press, 2006) is an interesting read on the evolution of software (or “IT,” in that era’s vernacular), maturity within businesses, and deciding among strategies for coupling and integration across business units.

• Technology Strategy Patterns by Eben Hewitt (O’Reilly, 2018) is a method-focused book on creating and communicating engineering strategy.

• The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George ...