“Getting Real” about software development

If you work in the software development industry, then Getting Real is required reading. It's the most pragmatic process-oriented thing I've read in probably 10 years (back when The Mythical Man Month, Code Complete,
and Is Your Project Out of Control? were the pinnacle of of the thinking on this topic). But the 37signals guys are even more pragmatic than all of that, with great stuff in there like:

Embrace Constraints

Let limitations guide you to creative solutions

There’s never enough to go around. Not enough time. Not
enough money. Not enough people.

That’s a good thing.

Instead of freaking out about these constraints, embrace
them. Let them guide you. Constraints drive innovation and
force focus. Instead of trying to remove them, use them to
your advantage.

…

What’s the Big Idea

Explicitly define the one-point vision for your app

What does your app stand for? What’s it really all about?

Before you start designing or coding anything you need
to know the purpose of your product – the vision. Think
big. Why does it exist? What makes it different than other
similar products?

This vision will guide your decisions and keep you on a consistent
path. Whenever there’s a sticking point, ask, “Are we
staying true to the vision?”

Your vision should be brief too. A sentence should be enough to
get the idea across.

…

Forget Feature Requests

Let your customers remind you what’s important
…
So what do you do with all these requests that pour in? Where
do you store them? How do you manage them? You don’t.
Just read them and then throw them away.

Yup, read them, throw them away, and forget them. It sounds
blasphemous but the ones that are important will keep bubbling
up anyway. Those are the only ones you need to remember.
Those are the truly essential ones. Don’t worry about tracking
and saving each request that comes in. Let your customers be
your memory. If it’s really worth remembering, they’ll remind
you until you can’t forget.

And finally, a great anecdote that I think neatly summarizes much of the thinking in this book:

Steve Jobs gave a small private presentation about the iTunes Music Store to
some independent record label people. My favorite line of the day was when
people kept raising their hand saying, “Does it do [x]?”, “Do you plan to add
[y]?”. Finally Jobs said, “Wait wait – put your hands down. Listen: I know you
have a thousand ideas for all the cool features iTunes could have. So do we. But
we don’t want a thousand features. That would be ugly. Innovation is not about
saying yes to everything. It’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features.”