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Top Business (Non-Finance) Books for Cyber Security Professionals

Updated: Nov 9, 2023

The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel - Eliyahu M. Goldratt , Dwight Jon Zimmerman

The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel - 1984 (Audio available)

This business classic tells the story of a factory manager who overcomes various challenges to deliver high-quality products in the required quantities. Goldratt uses this narrative to emphasize the Theory of Constraints (TOC), which focuses on process improvement by identifying and optimizing system constraints.






The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business - G. Kim, K. Behr

The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business - 2013 (Audio available)

The book 'The Goal,' written in 1984, provides a compelling narrative about enhancing manufacturing processes. In today's IT and service-based economy, many wonder how successful business productivity methods, such as Six Sigma, can be adapted. This story follows in 'The Goal's' footsteps, presenting a fictional account of a company struggling with a major software project and the actions the team must take to correct its course.


The Unicorn Project - Gene Kim, Frankie Corzo

The Unicorn Project: A Novel About Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data - 2019 (Audio available)

This book serves as a sequel to 'The Phoenix Project' and offers a fictional account of a business and its Information Technology (IT) department, shedding light on the organizational challenges they face. Most readers will likely identify with some of the issues portrayed in this story, even though it's not exclusively a cybersecurity book. Nevertheless, a strong grasp of DevOps is crucial for cybersecurity professionals to support their organizations and ensure the effective implementation of cybersecurity systems. One noteworthy character in the book is the head of IT security, who proves unhelpful to the IT team by creating unnecessary obstacles. His behavior is comically absurd, as he eventually quits and embarks on a multi-day bender. The lesson here is clear: avoid being that kind of obstructionist and save your multi-day benders for more worthwhile occasions.


Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems - B. Beyer, C., Jones

Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems - 2016 (Audio available)

This book, considered a foundational work in the field of Site Reliability Engineering, is a collection of chapters authored by Google SREs covering a wide range of systems engineering topics. However, it delves beyond technical subjects, exploring the mindset and leadership principles associated with SRE. Even if you are not an SRE, this book offers valuable insights for cybersecurity engineers involved in designing and overseeing systems in their organizations.



The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right - A. Gawunde

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right - 2009 (Audio available)


I'm truly fond of this book. During my flight training, I learned the critical importance of checklists. They instill consistency, which in turn ensures fewer mistakes, and high quality. In today's fast-paced IT environment, where systems and business processes constantly evolve, creating checklists can be challenging. However, it's essential not to let this be an excuse. Aim for checklists and the enhanced quality they bring.

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