Books

My books:

Agile Project Management with Kanban (Developer Best Practices) 1st Edition

Use Kanban to maximize efficiency, predictability, quality, and value
With Kanban, every minute you spend on a software project can add value for customers. One book can help you achieve this goal: Agile Project Management with Kanban.

Author Eric Brechner pioneered Kanban within the Xbox engineering team at Microsoft. Now he shows you exactly how to make it work for your team.

Think of this book as “Kanban in a box”: open it, read the quickstart guide, and you’re up and running fast. As you gain experience, Brechner reveals powerful techniques for right-sizing teams, estimating, meeting deadlines, deploying components and services, adapting or evolving from Scrum or traditional Waterfall, and more.

For every step of your journey, you’ll find pragmatic advice, useful checklists, and actionable lessons. This truly is “Kanban in a box”: all you need to deliver breakthrough value and quality.

Use Kanban techniques to:

Start delivering continuous value with your current team and project
Master five quick steps for completing work backlogs
Plan and staff new projects more effectively
Minimize work in progress and quickly adjust to change
Eliminate artificial meetings and prolonged stabilization
Improve and enhance customer engagement
Visualize workflow and fix revealed bottlenecks
Drive quality upstream
Integrate Kanban into large projects
Optimize sustained engineering (contributed by James Waletzky)
Expand Kanban beyond software development

I. M. Wright’s Hard Code: A Decade of Hard-Won Lessons from Microsoft (Developer Best Practices) Second Edition

Get the brutal truth about coding, testing, and project management—from a Microsoft insider who tells it like it is. I. M. Wright’s deliberately provocative column “Hard Code” has been sparking debate amongst thousands of engineers at Microsoft for years. And now (despite our better instincts), we’re making his opinions available to everyone.

In this collection of over 80 columns, Eric Brechner’s alter ego pulls no punches with his candid commentary and best practice solutions to the issues that irk him the most. He dissects the development process, examines tough team issues, and critiques how the software business is run, with the added touch of clever humor and sardonic wit. His ideas aren’t always popular (not that he cares), but they do stimulate discussion and imagination needed to drive software excellence.

Get the unvarnished truth on how to:

Improve software quality and value—from design to security
Realistically manage project schedules, risks, and specs
Trim the fat from common development inefficiencies
Apply process improvement methods—without being an inflexible fanatic
Drive your own successful, satisfying career
Don’t be a dictator—develop and manage a thriving team!

Companion Web site includes:

Agile process documents
Checklists, templates, and other resources

I found instant connection with Eric and felt he understood my struggles and felt safe and encouraged to get his advice.

As my career grows, I have often used Eric as my sounding board and bounced off different leadership challenges.

“I found instant connection with Eric and felt he understood my struggles and felt safe and encouraged to get his advice.”

Joy Chik

Corporate Vice President, Microsoft

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Eric for many years.

He’s been a steady source of knowledge and professional advice about so many things, ranging from design and architecture advice, to manager tips, to simple wisdom in navigating career moves.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Eric for many years.”

Karl Reese

Principal Group Engineering Manager, Microsoft

[Eric] started mentoring me when I was a senior developer struggling to find ways to find room for myself on projects dominated by territorial coworkers.

I would not still be in the industry without his help and guidance finding my way through several tough situations I found myself in. With his help, I have grown into a manager confident in my ability to lead teams where people feel more included and confident than I did earlier in my career.

“[Eric] started mentoring me when I was a senior developer struggling to find ways to find room for myself on projects dominated by territorial coworkers.”

Ann Williams

Principal Group Engineering Manager, Microsoft

The leadership and mentorship Dr. B provided gave me confidence and constructive suggestions.

He offered feedback with specific examples, which added context to his recommendations. In addition, he took the time to learn my needs and communication style, which encouraged me to put more effort into developing my leadership style.

“The leadership and mentorship Dr. B provided gave me confidence and constructive suggestions.”

Cimone Wright-Hamor

Founder, HeyCimone

Eric is kind-hearted, loyal, and is a good listener who often provides the kinds of fresh perspectives and new ideas that are so valuable to those learning to move up in an organization.

I highly value the time I spent with him and the valuable lessons I learned during that first big transition in my own career.

“Eric is kind-hearted, loyal, and is a good listener who often provides the kinds of fresh perspectives and new ideas that are so valuable to those learning to move up in an organization.”

Suzanne Sowinska

Former Director of Programs at Microsoft

[Eric] helped me become an educator, and exposed me to a whole new set of engineering methodologies, which I then used to enhance the capabilities of numerous engineers across the planet.

It’s been 20 years, and I still find the pearls of wisdom that resonate and give a different perspective.

“[Eric] helped me become an educator, and exposed me to a whole new set of engineering methodologies, which I then used to enhance the capabilities of numerous engineers across the planet.”

William Adams

Azure Technical Advisor, Microsoft

I like how practical his advice is

I come to him looking for advice and encouragement even for some of the most challenging situations in my professional life and every time I leave energized and with a plan. The best of all is how he believes in me and encourages me to do my best and not worry about the rest. The result is that I’m happier in my job and more productive, and this is acknowledged by those around me.

“I like how practical his advice is”

Ioana Pop

Senior Software Engineer, Stellar Health

I cannot recommend Eric highly enough as a career coach. He is knowledgeable, approachable, and truly dedicated to helping his clients succeed.

I have been working with Eric as my career coach since 2020 and I am incredibly grateful for his guidance and support during this time. As a Deaf Asian woman in the tech industry, I have faced some unique challenges, but with Eric’s help, I have been able to overcome them and grow professionally.

I am continuously amazed by the wealth of knowledge and experience that Eric brings to our sessions, and I have learned so much from him over the years. From the importance of self-reflection to the power of empathy, Eric has truly been a guiding light in my career.

“I cannot recommend Eric highly enough as a career coach. He is knowledgeable, approachable, and truly dedicated to helping his clients succeed.”

Sophie Tian

Software Engineer II, Microsoft

Eric’s patience, insight, and feedback are unparalleled, and I am grateful for the professional and personal growth I achieved with his guidance.

During my time with Eric, he helped me transition from college student/recent college graduate to experienced software engineer.

“Eric’s patience, insight, and feedback are unparalleled, and I am grateful for the professional and personal growth I achieved with his guidance.”

Melissa Najmabadi

Software Engineer, Microsoft

Eric helped me to understand what I needed to learn to grow my career, and gave me the resources, detailed feedback, and literally, the space to do it.

Eric is the kind of leader and mentor that inspires confidence, a desire to learn and grow, and who gives you the details and feedback you need to be successful. He takes the time to learn your unique needs and work style, and then finds ways to teach you how to be successful using them.

I am a long-time Microsoft employee who worked for Eric for about 6 years across Xbox and Windows, working on the engineering system. Eric helped me to understand what I needed to learn to grow my career, and gave me the resources, detailed feedback, and literally, the space to do it. Eric is the kind of leader and mentor that inspires confidence, a desire to learn and grow, and who gives you the details and feedback you need to be successful. He takes the time to learn your unique needs and work style, and then finds ways to teach you how to be successful using them. Through this, he sets a strong example for how to lead and grow a team using positive, encouraging, and inclusive approaches.

Some examples of how Eric has helped me:

I am an extremely kinesthetic learner (aka, I only learn while in motion), I often need to process information verbally (aka, I need to talk through problems), and I naturally have a loud voice that carries well. Due to this, I am unable to be productive in open office space, because constant motion and noise have negative impacts on those around you and are strongly socially discouraged. Xbox used open office spaces, but Eric was able to find a creative solution to get me my own office space, much to the delight of both myself and everyone around me. This enabled me to be orders of magnitude more productive. Very few managers would have taken this request as seriously or have put as much effort into meeting it, but Eric did, and I remain very grateful.
I love working in the depths of the engineering system, but had trouble communicating to broader audiences why certain solutions were needed. Eric took the time to understand the details of the system, what solutions were needed, and then worked with me (using his legendary “red pen” 😊) to patiently help me learn to communicate more effectively and concisely. Being able to ask him detailed questions about why he communicated the way he did and explore tradeoffs and choices to communicate the same message was incredibly helpful. He took the time to meet me where I was at in my skills and help me grow them over a multi-year period in an incremental and digestible way. To this day, and even as I write this, I often recall his guidance and edit my communications based on it.
I have greatly grown in my ability to interview, find good talent for my team, and to grow that talent over time as part of my team with Eric’s guidance. Eric is the best interviewer and talent finder I have ever seen, with an incredibly accurate ability to find overlooked “diamonds in the rough” and bring them into his team to be polished. This extends to how he approaches career growth (1:1’s, in Microsoft parlance) and how he is able to find what works for you to help you grow specific skills and abilities so that you are successful. He delights in teaching anyone who is interested how to improve their own ability to interview, select good talent, and grow their skills over time, and I have benefited greatly from it.

“Eric helped me to understand what I needed to learn to grow my career, and gave me the resources, detailed feedback, and literally, the space to do it.”

Mike Rowand

Principal Engineering Lead, Microsoft

[Eric] made sure that I did not let my disability dictate how I worked or limit what I could achieve.

He made sure that I did not feel limited by my challenges and that I could achieve, even if through different means, the same goals as anyone else in my field.

“[Eric] made sure that I did not let my disability dictate how I worked or limit what I could achieve.”

Helga Arvilla

Senior Program Manager, Microsoft

He’s the kind of manager/mentor that you’ll want to keep working with.

From his rich life experience as both a manager and a human being, you’ll always find more spiritual nourishment to absorb.

“He’s the kind of manager/mentor that you’ll want to keep working with.”

Meng Yang

Grad Student, University of Washington

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