References

The sources this book draws on, grouped by what they are best for. Links were checked as live in July 2026.

Chat and everyday etiquette

  • no hello, the one-page site behind the no-hello rule in Chapter 1: https://nohello.net. It exists in a dozen languages, and linking it (gently, once) is itself a chat tradition.
  • The XY problem, canonical explanation of the asking failure covered in Chapter 3, with the original mailing-list history: https://xyproblem.info
  • Eric S. Raymond and Rick Moen, "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way": http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html. The classic text on well-formed technical questions; abrasive by modern standards, but foundational.

Code review

Disagreement, feedback, and difficult conversations

  • Kim Scott, Radical Candor (2017; revised 2019). The care-personally, challenge-directly framing that underlies "soften the person, sharpen the substance".
  • Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, Crucial Conversations (2002; 3rd ed. 2021). The standard text on high-stakes disagreement mechanics: safety, shared goals, and returning to facts.
  • Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication (1999; 3rd ed. 2015). Source of the observation-versus-evaluation distinction ("adjectives are verdicts") used throughout Chapter 5.
  • Erin Meyer, The Culture Map (2014). The field guide to how directness, criticism, and disagreement norms vary across countries; essential reading for international teams.
  • Amazon leadership principles: https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles. Origin of "disagree and commit" as an operating rule and of the one-way/two-way door decision framing (the latter articulated in Jeff Bezos's 2015 shareholder letter).

Incidents, blamelessness, and operations language

Writing craft

  • William Zinsser, On Writing Well (1976; 30th-anniversary ed. 2006). The single best book on plain professional prose; the de-inflation stance of Chapter 13 ("use" over "utilize") is pure Zinsser.
  • William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style (1959; 4th ed. 1999). Dated in places, still the fastest vaccination against clutter.
  • BLUF (bottom line up front), background on the military-origin structure adopted throughout this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLUF_(communication)
  • The PREP method (Point, Reason, Example, Point) from Chapter 16 is widely documented in public-speaking training, for example Toastmasters materials.

Careers, feedback, and the written record

  • Chris Beams, "How to Write a Git Commit Message": https://cbea.ms/git-commit/. The seven rules (imperative subject, 50/72 wrapping, body explains why) behind Chapter 17's commit section.
  • Conventional Commits v1.0.0: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/. The feat:/fix: prefix specification.
  • PagerDuty postmortem guide: https://postmortems.pagerduty.com. Worked templates and role definitions behind Chapters 17 and 22, including the incident commander role.
  • Camille Fournier, The Manager's Path (2017). The standard map of 1:1s, feedback, and career ladders from both sides of the table; background for Chapter 18.
  • The Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) feedback model, developed by the Center for Creative Leadership; the structure used in Chapter 18.
  • The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is widely documented in interviewing and performance-review guidance; used in Chapter 18.

Dialect and global Englishes

  • Braj Kachru's work on World Englishes, and the Oxford English Dictionary entries for "prepone" and question-sense "doubt". Background for Chapter 16's position that these are dialect features rather than errors; the chapter's advice is about audience mapping, not correctness.

Terms of art