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Armanc Keser

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Favourites

Recently read

Rated	Read	Book	Notes
`─────`	Jul 2026	Explosive Growth · Cliff Lerner	Stories about companies told from the inside are interesting to me. How much did I learn? Not sure, but a fun read regardless.
`─────`	Jul 2026	Get Scalable · Ryan Deiss	Some valuable things here, like the formalization of value engines. Worth more to an actual startup owner than to me.
`─────`	Jul 2026	Traction · Weinberg, Mares	A 3.5 that I won't rate: the points it loses are for being less relevant today, not for the quality of the book. Could use an update.
`●●●○○`	Jun 2026	How Big Things Get Done · Flyvbjerg, Gardner	Liked it, but it's one or two simple ideas repeated. I wanted more on how to plan well and less on how planning fails.
`●●●●○`	Jun 2026	The SaaS Playbook · Rob Walling	Short, dense, and far more timeless than the others in this stretch.
`●●●●○`	May 2026	The Innovator's Dilemma · Clayton Christensen	Very insightful, especially right now, with the world adjusting to the most disruptive technology to ever exist.
`●●●○○`	May 2026	The Thinking Machine · Stephen Witt	A 2.5. The history, and the objective record of which decisions were made and why, was the interesting part.

Lists

Product thinking, in order. If you read four, read these four, in this order.

The Mom Test · how to ask questions that don't produce flattering lies
Obviously Awesome · positioning, in an afternoon
Inspired · why a few products work and most don't
Shape Up · how to scope work so it actually ships, free to read online

People who explain things visually. Nobody does this better.

Bartosz Ciechanowski · interactive essays on how physical things work
samwho.dev · load balancing, memory allocators, all of it playable
Sebastian Lague · algorithms and game concepts, beautifully
Acerola · graphics programming
Pezzza's Work · physics simulations, raytracing, ML from scratch

Learn CSS properly. Fundamentals first, then layout intuition.

Kevin Powell · start here
Josh Comeau · the interactive version
Ahmad Shadeed · layout patterns, deeply
Jake Archibald · what the browser is actually doing
Juxtopposed · redesigning bad interfaces

Python, properly. Past syntax, into judgment.

python-patterns.guide · patterns, explained clearly
Hynek Schlawack · domain-driven design and nuance
Trey Hunner · fundamentals
mCoding · internals
anthonywritescode · open source in practice

Bootstrapped SaaS. Building without venture capital.

The SaaS Playbook · the short, dense one
MicroConf · talks from the people who wrote it
Rework · the argument for staying small

The shelf

Everything I've finished, with what it was good for. Low ratings are here on purpose.

●●●●○ out of five ───── read, deliberately not rated

Writing better software

Rated	Book	Author	Notes
`●●●●○`	The Pragmatic Programmer	Hunt, Thomas	Foundation for being a good engineer
`●●●●○`	Architecture Patterns with Python	Percival, Gregory	Non-prescriptive, anticipates your questions, sums up tradeoffs well. Gripe: the central example is a warehouse.

python-patterns.guide · Python design patterns, clearly explained
zakirullin/cognitive-load · writing code for human brains
Martin Fowler · design patterns and refactoring
Simon Willison · engineering notes on everything
Julia Evans · tools, terminals, how things actually work
Database Fundamentals · storage engines, ACID, distributed systems from first principles
AI Blindspots · where LLMs reliably fail
devhints.io · cheatsheets
Git Tips and Tricks · talk by a GitHub co-founder
History of OOP · how it came to be and what happened to it
Scaling Up! · software at scale

Python: Bite Code · Trey Hunner · Hynek Schlawack · mCoding · anthonywritescode · code quality for beginners · PyCon US (my notes)

Watching: CodeAesthetic · No Boilerplate · Dreams of Code · Theo · Lydia Hallie

Building products

Rated	Book	Author	Notes
`●●●●●`	The Startup Owner's Manual	Blank, Dorf	A framework for understanding companies. Validates or kills a vague idea. Not just for founders.
`●●●●●`	Obviously Awesome	April Dunford	Practical positioning framework that makes customers understand your value immediately
`●●●●●`	The Mom Test	Rob Fitzpatrick	Love short and practical books
`●●●●○`	Shape Up	Ryan Singer	Methods feel natural. Helped structure my thinking and how I work with a team.
`●●●●○`	Inspired	Marty Cagan	Hits the nail on the head on why some products succeed and others fail
`●●●●○`	Hooked	Nir Eyal	Habit-forming products. Gave me a lot of ideas.
`●●●●○`	The Principles of Product Development Flow	Donald Reinertsen	Tough read, eye opening ideas
`●●●●○`	Don't Make Me Think	Steve Krug	Usability fundamentals
`●●●●○`	Sprint	Jake Knapp	Fun to read, and good principles for making product decisions as a team
`●●●●○`	Sales Pitch	April Dunford	Narratives that differentiate and actually resonate with buyers
`●●●●○`	The Innovator's Dilemma	Clayton Christensen	Very insightful right now, with the world adjusting to the most disruptive technology to ever exist
`●●●●○`	The SaaS Playbook	Rob Walling	Short, dense, timeless
`●●●○○`	Good Strategy Bad Strategy	Richard Rumelt	Enjoyed the stories and advice, but after Dunford and The Mom Test, longer business books feel drawn out
`●●●○○`	The Cold Start Problem	Andrew Chen	Good explanation of network effects, much longer than it needs to be. Lost interest in the last third.
`●●●○○`	How Big Things Get Done	Flyvbjerg, Gardner	One or two simple ideas repeated. Wanted more on how to plan well.
`─────`	Rework	Jason Fried	Short and anecdotal, but the anecdotes confirm what other books argue for
`─────`	Traction	Weinberg, Mares	A 3.5 I won't rate: loses points for being dated, not for quality
`─────`	Get Scalable	Ryan Deiss	The formalization of value engines was worth having. Better suited to an owner.

Marty Cagan's SVPG · I strongly believe in Cagan's product philosophy. Less time: a summary of Inspired. Even less: a talk.
- Prototype Testing · The Most Important Thing
Running design sprints · the GV process, free
MicroConf · bootstrapped SaaS founders, no unicorn talk
Y Combinator · founder essays and Startup School

Working with teams

Rated	Book	Author	Notes
`●●●●●`	Crucial Conversations	Patterson et al.	Tools for high-stakes discussions
`●●●●●`	The Five Dysfunctions of a Team	Patrick Lencioni	Short, interesting, actionable
`●●●●○`	Leading Without Authority	Keith Ferrazzi	Underrated. If you see a problem, solve it regardless of title. Influence and conflict through the lens of solving business problems.
`─────`	Team: Getting Things Done with Others	David Allen	Some good tools and perspective

Case studies and wisdom

Rated	Book	Author	Notes
`●●●●●`	Creativity, Inc.	Ed Catmull	Pixar culture and creative management
`●●●●○`	The Hard Thing About Hard Things	Ben Horowitz	Crisis moments, and what was done to survive them
`●●●●○`	Build	Tony Fadell	iPod and iPhone lessons from inside Apple
`●●●●○`	High Growth Handbook	Elad Gil	Interviews with people who know
`●●●●○`	Switch	Chip and Dan Heath	Maps change at scale and the anecdotes are great. Thin on finding the right combination, and due an update.
`●●●●○`	BE 2.0	Jim Collins	Great, but written for leaders of small to medium companies. Maybe one day.
`●●●○○`	Reset	Dan Heath	Read it as an update to Switch. Less substantive, still good.
`●●●○○`	The Thinking Machine	Stephen Witt	A 2.5. The history and the objective record of what was decided and why is the good part.
`─────`	Founders at Work	Jessica Livingston	Startup history, enjoyable
`─────`	Explosive Growth	Cliff Lerner	Told from the inside, which I like. How much I learned is less clear.

EO · founder interviews and leadership education

Personal effectiveness

Rated	Book	Author	Notes
`●●●●○`	Atomic Habits	James Clear	Building habits systematically
`●●●●○`	Deep Work	Cal Newport	Focused work in a distracted world
`●●●●○`	Four Thousand Weeks	Oliver Burkeman	Time management for mortals
`●●●●○`	Where Good Ideas Come From	Steven Johnson	Natural history of innovation
`●●●●○`	Business Made Simple	Donald Miller	Prescriptive overview of every part of a business. Pick chapters. Could do without the self-promotion.