DESIGN THINKING BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rework
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
2010, Crown Business Press, 279 pages
 
Written by the founders of 37 Signals, an agile software company that we all wanted to be in the 2000s, this book challenges business assumptions about planning, communications, work styles, and especially inspiration and design.
 
Why read this?
Design Thinking disguised as a business book - how to apply design and agile principles to your organization.

Designing for Growth:
A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers
Jeanne Leidtka and Tim Ogilvie
2011, Columbia Business School Publishing
 
"Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie educate readers in one of the hottest trends in business: "design thinking," or the ability to turn abstract ideas into practical applications for maximal business growth. Liedtka and Ogilvie cover the mind-set, techniques, and vocabulary of design thinking, unpack the mysterious connection between design and growth, and teach managers in a straightforward way how to exploit design's exciting potential."

Agile for Everybody
Creating fast, flexible, and customer-first organizations
Matt Lemay
2018, O'Reilly
 
"The Agile movement provides real, actionable answers to the question that keeps many company leaders awake at night: How do we stay successful in a fast-changing and unpredictable world? Agile has already transformed how modern companies build and deliver software. This practical book demonstrates how entire organizations - from product managers and engineers to marketers and executives - can put Agile to work."
 
Why read this?
There is so much design thinking under the surface of agile... so it's a great way to get past the stigma some people feel about design thinking. Plus, agile actually works! Agile is everywhere, and this book has inspirational stories for how agile can be used effectively for many business processes.

Strategic Doing
Ten skills for agile leadership
Morrison, Hutcheson, Nilsen, Faddon, Franklin
2018, Wiley
 
"Our companies, our communities, and our planet are facing unprecedented challenges - challenges that will not be solved by a small group of people from a single entity. Today's leaders need a set of tools specifically designed to harness the power of collaborative networks."
 
Why read this?
Practical ideas for starting up an agile mindset in organizations, and keeping it useful.

Designing for People
Henry Dreyfuss
1955, 1967, 2003, 2012, Allworth Publishing. 288 pages
 
"One of the most interesting things about reading this book 62 years after it was first published is discovering that many of the modern day design gurus were not the originators of a great deal of the design concepts, ideas, principles and approaches to business that they write about. Aside from some cultural differences and the Internet this book applies today."
 
Why read this?
Engrossing look back at the origins of design with one of the giants of industrial design. Fun anecdotes and insights into making things that people love.

By Design
Ralph Caplan
1982, St. Martin's Press. 204 pages
 
A book about design written by the retired editor of ID (International Design) magazine. Caplan tells stories, discussed the history of design, and offers provocative ideas on what is design? What is a designer?
 
Why read this?
Great introduction to the width and depth of product design, inspiring stories. User experience design is a direct decendant of product design - there is much to learn from brilliant ancestors.

The Design of Design
Essays from a Computer Scientist
Frederick P. Brooks, Jr
2010, Addison-Wesley
ISBN 0-201-00650-2
 
Brooks wrote the The Mythical Man-month in 1974, this is his follow-up published in 2010.
 
Why read this?
It's a series of essays on designing software and the challenges we face.

Influence
The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert B. Cialdini
1984, 1994, 2007, Collins Business Essentials, 320 pages
 
Why read this?
Why do people say 'yes'? How to apply six universal principals to persuade.

Engaged:
Designing for Behavior Change
Amy Butcher
2020, Rosenfeld Media, 320 pages
 
"...you can incorporate behavior change principles into your designs to help people achieve meaningful goals, learn and grow, and connect with one another. Engaged offers practical tips for design professionals to apply the psychology of engagement to their work."
 
Why read this?
Butcher writes each chapter of this book on an important psychology principal, with examples of application plus discussions with an academic expert in the field.

The Experience Economy
Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage
B. Joseph Pine, James H. Gilmore
1999, Harvard Business School Press, 272 pages
 
"The service economy is about to be superseded with something that critics will find even more ephemeral (and controversial) than services ever were: experiences. In part because of technology and the increasing expectations of consumers, services today are starting to look like commodities."
 
Why read this?
Cogent advice on great experiences and why they matter. They nailed it.

Information Anxiety
Richard Saul Wurman
1989, Doubleday
ISBN 0-553-34856-6
 
Ruminations by an architect on the value and states of information, interesting. Wurman also founded the TED conferences.
 
Why read this?
Privacy issues, complexity, and poor organization continue to bedevil us. Motivation for clarity and user-centered approaches.

Persuasive Technology
Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do
B. J. Fogg
2003, Morgan Kauffman, 283 pages
 
Can computers change what you think and do?
"Yes, they can" says Dr. B.J. Fogg, director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford. How web sites, software applications, and mobile devices can be used to change people's attitudes and behavior.

Set Phasers on Stun;
and other true tales of design, technology, and human error
Stephen Casey
1993, Aegean Publishing
ISBN 0-9636178-7-7
 
Why read this?
18 short stories on human/technology interface error and its costs. Very fast and entertaining read.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Edward R. Tufte
1990, Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT
 
Classic text from outspoken Harvard professor on simplifying information and designing charts. Also a gorgeous book.

Universal Principles of Design
Lidwell/Holden/Butler
2003, Rockport Press, 215 pages
 
"A comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia covering 125 laws, guidelines, human biases, and general considerations important to successful design. Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, it pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the ideas applied in practice. From the 80/20 Rule to the Weakest Link, every major design concept is defined and illustrated."
 
Why read this?
Works fantastically well as an orientation to design 'laws' with 2-page definitions...

Universal Methods of Design
Martin/Hanington
2012, Rockport Press, 207 pages
 
"This reference provides a thorough and critical presentation of 100 research methods, synthesis/analysis techniques, and research deliverables for human centered design, delivered in a concise and accessible 2-page format perfect for designers, educators, and students. Build more meaningful products with these methods and more: A/B Testing, Affinity Diagramming, Behavioral Mapping, Bodystorming, Contextual Design, Critical Incident Technique, Directed Storytelling, Flexible Modeling, Image Boards, Graffiti Walls, Heuristic Evaluation, Parallel Prototyping, Simulation Exercises, Touchstone Tours, and Weighted Matrix."
 
Why read this?
Many ideas for simple research and design methods that work!

The Inmates are Running the Asylum
Alan Cooper
2004, Pearson Education, 288 pages
 
Why read this?
Cooper wrote this book for business managers to convince them that they need better tools for making decisions about customers (who are absent from most processes). Marketing and UX teams use Cooper-style buyer personas to design content, campaigns, and events

Originals
Adam Grant
2016, Penguin Books
 
Why read this?
There's controversy in the Amazon reviews on this book... Creativity does not stop with an idea - that's only the beginning. Change is hard. Grant tells inspiring stories how people in different fields overcame resistance and changed their orgs for the better.

The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error'
Sidney Dekker
2010, Ashgate Books, 218 pages
ISBN 978-1-4724-3905-5
 
Why read this?
There's an entire academic discipline studying human error. One of the core tenets - it's almost never the first idea that casued the error - it's deeper things such as: didn't have access to the right systems; didn't know there was a better solution; didn't have permission to do the right thing. As we move into AI systems, understanding human error causes will be critical to building great expert systems.

Microcosm
George Gilder
1989, Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0-671-70592-X
 
Why read this?
A prescient manifesto of the information age.

The Pragmatic Programmer
David Thomas and Andrew Hunt
1999, 2019, Addison-Wesley Professional, 352 pages
ISBN 0-670-85244-9
 
"If you want your software to be easy to modernize and maintain, keep a copy of The Pragmatic Programmer close. It's filled with practical advice, both technical and professional, that will serve you and your projects well for years to come." - Andrea Goulet, CEO, Corgibytes

The Mythical Man-Month
Essays on Software Engineering
Frederick P. Brooks, Jr
1975, Addison-Wesley
ISBN 0-201-00650-2
 
Incredibly long-lived, original book on mainframe software development.

The Psychology of Computer Programming
Gerald M. Weinberg
1971, Van Nostrand Reinhold
 
Why read this?
The complicated act of programming, how programmers work, and the first age of team programming.

Insanely Great
Steven Levy
1994, Viking Press
ISBN 0-670-85244-9
 
Development history of the Macintosh, great story with some odd editing in spots.

Make it So:
Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction
Nathen Shedroff and Christopher Noessel
2012, Rosenfeld Media, 348 pages
 
"If you're still wondering whether you'll get the jet-pack or hoverboard you rightly expect from science fiction movies and books, at least you can see how many other sci-fi ideas have inspired software designers already. A fun book that explores how design ideas can make the jump from fantasy to everyday use. Covers topics like visual interfaces, volumetric projections, gesture, sonic interfaces, brain interfaces, augmented reality, anthropomorphism, communication styles, learning, medicine, and what's next?
 
Why read this? Ideas come from anywhere, run with them!

The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design
Edited by Brenda Laurel
1990, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 0-201-51797-3
 
Classic collection of essays on the Apple interface and its philosophy.

Computers as Theatre
Edited by Brenda Laurel
1993, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 0-201-55060-1
 
Based on comparing UI to classical theater staging, interesting premise.

Programming As If People Mattered:
Friendly Programs, Software Engineering, and Other Noble Delusions
Nathaniel S Borenstein
1991, Princeton University Press
ISBN 0-691-03763-9
 
Anecdotal and useful examples of UI design.

A Practical Guide to Usability Testing
Joseph S Dumas and Janice C Redish
1993 Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood, NJ
ISBN 0-89391-991-8
 
Very specific, somewhat dry guide to testing. If you aren't testing, you aren't doing user-centered design.

Tog on Interface
Bruce Tognazzini
1992 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN 0-201-60842-1
 
Apple veteran's collected columns on UI evangelism, very interesting.

The Icon Book
Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation
William Horton. includes 3.5" DOS Disk
1994 John Wiley
ISBN 0-471-59901-8
 
Comprehensive study of trivial part of software design.

The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction
S T Card, T P Moran, and A Newell
1983, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, London

Human-Computer Interface Design Guidelines
C. Marlin 'Lin' Brown
1988, Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood
ISBN 0-89391-332-4
 
Textbook, lots of examples but slow reading.