Jim Highsmith

Lessons from Agile’s First Decade…Leadership for Agile’s Next Decade The agile software movement has now been around for a full decade. As coauthor of the original Agile Manifesto, Jim Highsmith has been at its heart since the beginning. He’s spent the past decade helping hundreds of organizations transition to agile/lean. When it comes to agile, he’s seen it all–in a variety of industries, worldwide. Now, in Adaptive Leadership , he has compiled, updated, and extended his best writings about agile and lean methods for a management audience. Highsmith doesn’t just reveal what’s working and what isn’t; he offers a powerful new vision for extending agility across the enterprise. Drawing on what’s been learned in application development, this guide shows how to use adaptive leadership techniques to transform the way you deliver complete solutions, whatever form they take. You’ll learn how enterprise agility can enable the ambitious organizational missions that matter most; how leaders can deliver a continuous stream of value; how to think disruptively about opportunities, and how to respond quickly by creating more adaptive, innovative organizations. Coverage includes Discovering and executing new business opportunities far more quickly Delivering complete business solutions earlier, and iterating them more often Organizing for innovation, and systematically managing opportunity flow Clarifying the degree of strategic, portfolio, and operational agility you need, and focusing on your highest-value transformations Creating cultures that actually can adapt and learn Reinvigorating the roots of agile value and values Understanding IT’s changing value proposition, and retraining your people accordingly Integrating economics, products, and social responsibility Choosing metrics that guide agility, not counterproductive traditional metrics Understanding the financial implications of technical debt Optimizing business value by doing less–and guiding the process with ”NOT to do“ lists Speculating intelligently when you can’t plan away uncertainty Customizing management to each project’s needs (because not all projects should be equally agile)

Accelerating Enterprise Agility

Adaptive Leadership

David Robinson

Linda Luu

EDGE: The Agile Operating Model That Will Help You Successfully Execute Your Digital Transformation “[The authors’] passion for technology allows them to recognize that for most enterprises in the 21st century, technology is THE business. This is what really separates the EDGE approach. It is a comprehensive operating model with technology at its core.” —From the Foreword by Heidi Musser, Executive Vice President and Principal Consultant, Leading Agile; retired, Vice President and CIO, USAA Maximum innovation happens at the edge of chaos: the messy, risky, and uncertain threshold between randomness and structure. Operating there is uncomfortable but it’s where organizations “invent the future.” EDGE is a set of fast, iterative, adaptive, lightweight, and value-driven tools to achieve digital transformation, and EDGE: Value-Driven Digital Transformation is your guide to using this operating model for innovation. Jim Highsmith is one of the world’s leading agile pioneers and a coauthor of the Agile Manifesto. He, Linda Luu, and David Robinson know from their vast in-the-trenches experience that sustainable digital transformation requires far more than adopting isolated agile practices or conventional portfolio management. This hard, indispensable work involves changing culture and mindset, and going beyond transforming the IT department. EDGE embraces an adaptive mindset in the face of market uncertainty, a visible, value-centered portfolio approach that encourages continual value linkages from vision to detailed initiatives, incremental funding that shifts as strategies evolve, collaborative decision-making, and better risk mitigation. This guide shows leaders how to use the breakthrough EDGE approach to go beyond incremental improvement in a world of exponential opportunities. Build an organization that adapts fast enough to thrive Clear away unnecessary governance processes, obsolete “command and control” leadership approaches, and slow budgeting/planning cycles Improve collaboration when major, fast-paced responses are necessary Continually optimize investment allocation and monitoring based on your vision and goals Register your product for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Value-Driven Digital Transformation

EDGE

Wild West to Agile: The evolution and revolution of software development, drawn from personal experience, from the Apollo moon mission to digital transformations. In 2023, "technology is your business--no matter what your business." But how did we get here and how could a historical perspective prepare us for the future? Jim Highsmith tackles the evolution and revolution of software development, embellishes them with personal experiences, from the Apollo moon mission to modern digital transformations, and introduces the adventurous pioneers--from structured era developer Ken Orr to Agile methodologist Kent Beck--who strived to make the world a better place, by building better software. Jim's six-decade career has encompassed the Wild West (1966-1979), to Structured Methods and Monumental Methodologies (1980s), to the Roots of Agile (1990s), to the present Agile Era (2001-present). In each era, he explores the evolution of software development methods, methodologies, and mindsets. Whether you are from the 1970-1980's generation looking for an "I was there too" moment, a newer generation interested in the evolution of software development, the Agile generation interested in how Agile methodologies were born and evolved, or have a general interest in information technology, Wild West to Agile has something for you. "Jim Highsmith is the Forrest Gump of software development. What made the 1994 movie so entertaining was how frequently Forrest found himself in the right spot as history was being made. Unlike Forrest, though, Jim's actions influenced that history." --Mike Cohn, cofounder of the Agile Alliance, and the Scrum Alliance; author of Succeeding with Agile "If you want to understand the shape of software development today, this is the book for you. If you want to understand how to navigate a turbulent career with grace & style, this is also the book for you. If you enjoy memoirs, ditto. Enjoy his story." --Kent Beck, Chief Scientist, Mechanical Orchard; author, Extreme Programming Explained "This entire journey--beginning with the Wild West era of software development through the Agile Era to today's Digital Transformation era--is entirely empowered by people. Thank you, Jim, for sharing these beautiful stories and honoring the people that were a part of this amazing journey." --Heidi J. Musser, Vice President and CIO, USAA, retired "I've always felt that understanding history is important, because it's hard to understand where we are unless you understand the path that we took to get here. Jim's memoir is an entertaining and astute odyssey through this history." --Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist, Thoughtworks

Adventures in Software Development Evolution and Revolution

Wild West to Agile

James A. Highsmith

In this book, Jim Highsmith explains what agile software development methods are, how they compare, and how to make the most of them. He includes case studies and interviews with the leaders who are driving each approach.

Agile Software Development Ecosystems

Jim Highsmith addresses the leading non-published aspect of agile methods: project management. Included in the book are a handy set of agile tools and instruction on bridging the gap from traditional software project management.

Jim Highsmith

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