BOOKS
I have penned eleven texts—three of which have won awards. Reimagining Collaboration is my latest creation. This page provides synopses of each of them.
Books in Reverse-Chronological Order
Reimagining Collaboration: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and the Post-COVID World of Work 🏆
Zoom For Dummies
Slack For Dummies
Analytics: The Agile Way
Message Not Received: Why Business Communication Is Broken and How to Fix It 🏆
The Visual Organization: Data Visualization, Big Data, and the Quest for Better Decisions
Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data
The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business 🏆
The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies
The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities in Chaos
Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects
Other Contributions
According to WorldCat, thousands of colleges, universities, and libraries use my texts. Beyond that, Google Scholar illustrates that my work resonates with plenty of academics as well.
The book to read is not the one that thinks for you but the one which makes you think.
—Harper Lee
Reimagining Collaboration: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and the Post-COVID World of Work (2021) NEW
Sadly, most folks use Microsoft Teams, Slack, or other internal collaboration hubs as E-mail 2.0. In the process, they miss out on their massive benefits. The same holds true if you think of Zoom as just a souped-up version of Skype.
My award-winning eleventh book explains how these new tools allow us to collaborate in unprecedented ways. What’s more, they can transform how we work—independently and with others. They can also simplify business processes, increase organizational transparency, make us more productive, and much, much more.
“If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that effectively working together in a distributed and virtual fashion is essential. Phil Simon provides a clear framework to achieve this critical yet elusive goal.“
– Brad Feld, Foundry Group partner, Techstars co-founder, and author of Startup Communities
Zoom For Dummies (2020)
Number ten covers Zoom—the suite of communication and collaboration tools that’s currently exploding in popularity. To be sure, my focus is on Zoom’s flagship Meetings & Chat tool. Still, I also cover the other arrows in Zoom’s formidable quiver: Zoom Video Webinars, Zoom Phone, and Zoom Rooms.
More than just a user guide, it provides tips on how to securely use Zoom. I also explain how to extend Zoom native functionality with popular third-party apps.
Slack For Dummies (2020)
My ninth book covers today’s über-powerful, popular, and flexible workplace communications and collaboration tool. Yes, I’m talking about Slack. Slack For Dummies is nothing short of the definitive, full-color guide on how the applications works.
More than that, though, the book covers ways to extend it with third-party apps. It provides tips for using Slack effectively. Want to secure Slack from prying eyes? ✅ Finally, the book demonstrates how to use Slack build an organizational knowledge repository and overcome employee resistance to it.
“At a high level, Simon explains how to use Slack get work done. You don’t use it on your own. Rather, it’s a collaboration tool. Because of that, you need to see Slack in light of your particular organization. A very valuable book.”
– Terri Griffith, Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business
Analytics: The Agile Way (2017)
The ocho explores how Google, Nextdoor, and an increasing number of intelligent organizations are approaching analytics. Rather than attempting to do everything at once, they are employing Agile methods, much like what software developers have done for years. In the process, they are seeing results and gaining valuable insights far faster than their competitors.
“To date I have seen scant attempts at Agile analytics, but this book will most certainly launch a thousand more. It is a must-read for any analytics leader, and a must-do for any analytics professional.”
—Douglas Laney, VP and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner
Message Not Received: Why Business Communication Is Broken and How to Fix It (2015)
My award-winning seventh book examines how we communicate, use, and often misuse language and technology at work. We send way too much e-mail and use far too much jargon. It’s time for us to examine not only what we say, but how we say it.
“Simon has given us a 21st-century guide to communicating that is both personal and universal.”
— David H. Freeman, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic, and author of Wrong and A Perfect Mess
The Visual Organization: Data Visualization, Big Data, and the Quest for Better Decisions (2014)
Progressive organizations like eBay, Netflix, Wedgies, the University of Texas, and others are using interactive dataviz tools and Big Data to ask better questions and make business decisions. My sixth book explores how.
“Simon demonstrates how it’s possible to see not only the forest, but the also trees.”
–Brad Feld, Foundry Group Managing Director and co-author, Startup Life
Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data (2013)
Number five looks at the nascent trend of Big Data and explains why it’s such a big deal. In plain English, I describe the genesis and applications of Big Data. I detail a wide variety of ways in which intelligent organizations are using it today. It’s a jargon-free, very accessible text with more than 40 positive reviews on Amazon.
“Simon makes you think differently about complex topic via real-world storytelling that resonates.”
–Jay Baer, author of Youtility: Why Smart Companies are Helping not Selling
The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business (2011)
My award-winning fourth creation examines the most important business model in business today: the platform. I focus on how four companies have embraced platforms, ecosystems, APIs, and external development–and how they have achieved amazing results.
“Essential reading on the state of business today–and where it is going. Ignore this book at your own peril.”
–Adrian C. Ott, award-winning author, The 24-Hour Customer
The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies (2010)
My third book examines the ability of increasingly tech-savvy small businesses to do things that were simply impossible even five years ago. Through the course of eleven engaging case studies, I demonstrate that small is the new big.
“A powerful, important, and eye-opening book. You may want to change your life once you’ve finished reading it.”
—Mitch Joel, President, Twist Image and author of Six Pixels of Separation
The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities in Chaos (2010)
My follow-up opus decribes how, when it comes to enterprise technology, organizations are finally getting with the times. That is, they are moving beyond simple e-mail, ERP, CRM, and BI stalwarts. They are adopting emerging enterprise technologies such as open-source software, SaaS, mobility, cloud computing, master data management, and others. The Next Wave of Technologies serves as a primer on successfully navigating Enterprise 2.0.
“If you make a living in IT, you must read this book.”
—David Siegel, author of Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web
Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects (2nd Edition: 2010)
My first book provides an inside look at IT projects that broke bad. Really bad.
Culled from the decade I spent implementing new enterprise systems, this no-holds-barred guide offers a great deal of advice on how minimize the chance of system failures.
“This book’s framework is clear and its examples are compelling. A manifesto for successful IT projects.”
—Michael Krigsman, ZDNet Blogger on IT Project Failures
Other Contributions
- Nine total chapters from Zoom For Dummies and Slack For Dummies appear in Working From Home For Dummies. So there’s that.
- One of my HBR articles appears in Agile: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review.
- I served as the editor of–and a contributor to–the 2011 book 101 Lightbulb Moments in Data Management.
Click here to see my Amazon page. Or don’t. I really can’t make you.