Top Productivity books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Productivity books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Productivity

Understanding the concepts of Productivity starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

Jeff Sutherland discloses to the non-tech world the elegantly simple process that programmers and web developers have been using since he invented Scrum, showing how a small, empowered, and dedicated team can deliver significantly higher quality work at a faster pace through introspection, iteration, and adaptation.”

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Work Less, Do More: Designing the 4-Day Week Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

A must read for anyone interested in the 4-day week' - Heejung Chung, professor at the University of Kent and author of The Flexibility Paradox'This invaluable book offers a clear way we don't need to burn ourselves out, we can work less and get more done' - Rebecca Seal, author of How To Work Alone (And Not Lose Your Mind)The 4-day week is no longer just an idea. Following successful trials i…

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Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a personal productivity system developed by David Allen and published in a book of the same name. GTD is described as a time management system. Allen states "there is an inverse relationship between things on your mind and those things getting done".

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Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours

With Extreme Productivity, Pozen explains how individuals can maximize their time and energy by determining and focusing on their highest priorities. He also provides a toolkit of practical tips and techniques to help professionals at all stages of their careers maximize their time at work.

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Smarter Faster Better

Smarter Faster Better is a story-filled exploration of the science of productivity, one that can help us learn to succeed with less stress and struggle—and become smarter, faster, and better at everything we do.

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The Power of Habit

The Power of Habit (2012) unveils the science behind habit formation and change, making it a valuable read. Key highlights include: The book uncovers the psychology and neuroscience behind our daily routines. It presents practical strategies for replacing bad habits with positive ones.

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Additional Productivity Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Productivity, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Feel-Good Productivity

Feel-Good Productivity (2021) by Ali Abdaal is a book that explores how to maximize productivity without sacrificing happiness and well-being.

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Eat that frog

Eating that frog means tackling your most challenging task—and it's also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life. Productivity and time management coach Brian Tracy shows you how to organize each day so you can zero in on these critical tasks and accomplish them efficiently and effectively.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey provides a transformative guide for personal and professional success. It emphasizes proactive thinking, prioritization, effective communication, collaboration, and personal growth.

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Free to Focus

"Free to Focus" by Michael Hyatt is a productivity book that helps readers identify and eliminate distractions in order to focus on meaningful work. It offers practical advice and tools for achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness in both work and life.

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Deep Work

“Deep work” was coined by Cal Newport in his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. It refers to the capacity for concentrated, high-quality cognitive activities demanding deep focus, creativity, and problem-solving.

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The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

Chris Bailey turned down lucrative job offers to pursue a lifelong dream—to spend a year performing a deep dive experiment into the pursuit of productivity, a subject he had been enamored with since he was a teenager. After obtaining his business degree, he created a blog to chronicle a year-long series of productivity experiments he conducted on himself, where he also continued his research a…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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After 2 decades in Tech, leading software engineering teams at both Google, Microsoft, and studying coaching at Stanford, I would love to give back to the community, and spread my mentorship and coaching help to more engineers. Transforming someone's career and helping others unlock their true potentials, has been one …

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Are you ready to take your engineering leadership to the next level? As a Google engineering leader who helped shape sustainable travel features used by millions, I'm passionate about developing technical leaders who create meaningful impact. Who I Work With: * Engineering managers leading rapidly scaling teams * Senior ICs …

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Hi! My name is Svilen and I am a Senior Software Engineer at Oracle, Switzerland. I offer mentorships on a variety of topics, particularly for people aspiring to learn more about the tech world and the big tech industry. I focus on helping mentees grow their technical skills, acquire new …

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  • "Naz is an amazing person and a wonderful mentor. She is supportive and knowledgeable with extensive practical experience. Having been a manager at Netflix, she also knows a ton about working with teams at scale. Highly recommended."

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