I was lucky to pick up a copy of More Joel on Software for only 5 euros at a bookfest last week. Turns out the book ships pretty cheap on Amazon as well.

More Joel on Software was written by Joel Spolsky, already a legend for launching The Stack Exchange Network with Jeff Atwood. Although it’s hard to not know him, I admittedly hadn’t read a lot of his material so far. Starting my professional career in late 2008, the Spolsky writing high days were mostly over.

More Joel on Software is the second blook which bundles the best of the digital content of the Joel on Software blog into a dead tree. Although you can find every part of the book on Spolsky’s blog, it was well worth the money. I love how he has, next to amusing anecdotes, a very opinionated view on our industry which really challenges you to broaden your thinking. His writing is also extremely enjoyable, I think he must be one of the best writers in our field.

Here is, for your convenience, the content of the book with links to the original articles online. Might be useful if you are the owner of one of those reading devices.

Part 1 - Managing People

• My First BillG Review
• Finding Great Developers
• A Field Guide to Developers
• Three Management Methods (Introduction)
• The Command and Control Management Method
• The Econ 101 Management Method
• The Identity Management Method

Part 2 - Advice to Potential Programmers

• The Perils of JavaSchools
• Talk at Yale (1, 2, 3)
• Advice for Computer Science College Students

Part 3 - The Impact of Design

• Font Smoothing, Anti-Aliasing, and Subpixel Rendering
• A Game of Inches
• The Big Picture
• Choices = Headaches
• It’s Not Just Usability
• Building Communities with Software

Part 4 - Managing Large Projects

• Martian Headsets
• Why Are the Microsoft Office File Formats So Complicated? (And Some Workarounds)
• Where There’s Muck, There’s Brass

Part 5 - Programming Advice

• Evidence-Based Scheduling
• Strategy Letter VI
• Can Your Programming Language Do This?
• Making Wrong Code Look Wrong

Part 6 - Starting a Software Business

• Forward to Eric Sink on the Business of Software
• Forward to Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality
• Hitting the High Notes

Part 7 - Running a Software Business

• Bionic Office
• Up the Tata Without a Tutu
• Simplicity
• Rub a Dub Dub
• Top Twelve Tips for Running a Beta Test
• Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service

Part 8 - Releasing Software

• Picking a Ship Date
• Camels and Rubber Duckies

Part 9 - Revising Software

• Five Whys
• Set Your Priorities