Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business.The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute.Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

Detailed, Proven Techniques for Estimating and Planning Any Agile ProjectAgile Estimating and Planning is the definitive, practical guide to estimating and planning agile projects. In this book, Agile Alliance cofounder Mike Cohn discusses the philosophy of agile estimating and planning and shows you exactly how to get the job done, with real-world examples and case studies.Concepts are clearly illustrated and readers are guided, step by step, toward how to answer the following questions: What will we build? How big will it be? When must it be done? How much can I really complete by then? You will first learn what makes a good plan-and then what makes it agile.Using the techniques in Agile Estimating and Planning, you can stay agile from start to finish, saving time, conserving resources, and accomplishing more. Highlights include: Why conventional prescriptive planning fails and why agile planning works How to estimate feature size using story points and ideal days--and when to use each How and when to re-estimate How to prioritize features using both financial and nonfinancial approaches How to split large features into smaller, more manageable ones How to plan iterations and predict your team's initial rate of progress How to schedule projects that have unusually high uncertainty or schedule-related risk How to estimate projects that will be worked on by multiple teamsAgile Estimating and Planning supports any agile, semiagile, or iterative process, including Scrum, XP, Feature-Driven Development, Crystal, Adaptive Software Development, DSDM, Unified Process, and many more. It will be an indispensable resource for every development manager, team leader, and team member.

Discover how to implement and operate in an Agile manner at every level of your enterprise and at every point from idea to delivery. Learn how Agile-mature organizations adapt nimbly to microchanges in market conditions. Learn cutting-edge practices and concepts as you extend your implementation of Agile through the entire enterprise to meet customer needs.Veteran Agile coach Mario Moreira argues that two critical conditions must be conscientiously cultivated at a company before it can expect to reap in full measure the business benefits of mature Agile. First, individuals at every level must be committed to the mindset and the implementation of practices rigorously focused on delivering value to the customer. Second, all employees must be empowered to take ownership. This holistic transformation wrenches the status quo and provokes a strong focus where customers and employees matter.What You'll Learn Establish an idea pipeline to quickly and productively evolve customer value through all levels of the enterprise Incorporate a discovery mindset―experimental, incremental, design, and divergent thinking―and fast feedback loops to increase the odds that what you build aligns more closely to what customer wants Leverage Lean Canvas, personas, story mapping, value stream mapping, Cost of Delay, servant leadership, self-organization, and more to deliver optimum value to customers Use continuous agile budgeting and idea pipelines at the senior levels of the enterprise to enable you to adapt to the speed of the market Reinvent human resources, portfolio management, finance, and many areas of management toward new roles in the enablement of customer value Map a top-to-bottom and end-to-end holistic view of your Agile galaxy to gauge where you are today and where you’d like to go in your Agile future Be truly Agile throughout your enterprise, focused on customer value and employees above all elseWho This Book Is ForExecutives and senior management; sponsors of Agile within a company; ScrumMasters and Agile coaches, champions, and consultants; project management and quality assurance officers (PMOs and AMOs); portfolio managers; product managers and product owners; marketing and business managers; functional, middle, and resource managers; engineering heads and managers; cross-functional engineering/scrum teams; and entrepreneurs and venture capitalists

Proven, 100% Practical Guidance for Making Scrum and Agile Work in Any Organization This is the definitive, realistic, actionable guide to starting fast with Scrum and agile–and then succeeding over the long haul. Leading agile consultant and practitioner Mike Cohn presents detailed recommendations, powerful tips, and real-world case studies drawn from his unparalleled experience helping hundreds of software organizations make Scrum and agile work. Succeeding with Agile is for pragmatic software professionals who want real answers to the most difficult challenges they face in implementing Scrum. Cohn covers every facet of the transition: getting started, helping individuals transition to new roles, structuring teams, scaling up, working with a distributed team, and finally, implementing effective metrics and continuous improvement. Throughout, Cohn presents “Things to Try Now” sections based on his most successful advice. Complementary “Objection” sections reproduce typical conversations with those resisting change and offer practical guidance for addressing their concerns. Coverage includes \n Practical ways to get started immediately–and “get good” fast Overcoming individual resistance to the changes Scrum requires Staffing Scrum projects and building effective teams Establishing “improvement communities” of people who are passionate about driving change Choosing which agile technical practices to use or experiment with Leading self-organizing teams Making the most of Scrum sprints, planning, and quality techniques Scaling Scrum to distributed, multiteam projects Using Scrum on projects with complex sequential processes or challenging compliance and governance requirements Understanding Scrum’s impact on HR, facilities, and project management \nWhether you've completed a few sprints or multiple agile projects and whatever your role–manager, developer, coach, ScrumMaster, product owner, analyst, team lead, or project lead–this book will help you succeed with your very next project. Then, it will help you go much further: It will help you transform your entire development organization.

Agile has the power to transform work--but only if it's implemented the right way.For decades business leaders have been painfully aware of a huge chasm: They aspire to create nimble, flexible enterprises. But their day-to-day reality is silos, sluggish processes, and stalled innovation. Today, agile is hailed as the essential bridge across this chasm, with the potential to transform a company and catapult it to the head of the pack.Not so fast. In this clear-eyed, indispensable book, Bain & Company thought leader Darrell Rigby and his colleagues Sarah Elk and Steve Berez provide a much-needed reality check. They dispel the myths and misconceptions that have accompanied agile's rise to prominence--the idea that it can reshape an organization all at once, for instance, or that it should be used in every function and for all types of work. They illustrate that agile teams can indeed be powerful, making people's jobs more rewarding and turbocharging innovation, but such results are possible only if the method is fully understood and implemented the right way.The key, they argue, is balance. Every organization must optimize and tightly control some of its operations, and at the same time innovate. Agile, done well, enables vigorous innovation without sacrificing the efficiency and reliability essential to traditional operations. The authors break down how agile really works, show what not to do, and explain the crucial importance of scaling agile properly in order to reap its full benefit. They then lay out a road map for leading the transition to a truly agile enterprise.Agile isn't a goal in itself; it's a means to becoming a high-performance operation. Doing Agile Right is a must-have guide for any company trying to make the transition--or trying to sustain high agility.

Project Management the Agile Way is an agile project management book written for experienced project managers, architects and systems analysts who are comfortable in traditional methods of project management but now need to learn about agile methods for software projects and understand how to make agile work effectively in the enterprise. The methodologies included under the agile umbrella go by many names, such as Scrum, XP, Crystal and EVO, to name a few. Project managers will gain practical day-to-day tips and advice on how to apply these practices to mainstream projects and how to integrate these methods with other methodologies used in the enterprise.

When software development teams move to agile methods, experienced project managers often struggle―doubtful about the new approach and uncertain about their new roles and responsibilities. In this book, two long-time certified Project Management Professionals (PMPRs) and Scrum trainers have built a bridge to this dynamic new paradigm. They show experienced project managers how to successfully transition to agile by refocusing on facilitation and collaboration, not “command and control.”The authors begin by explaining how agile works: how it differs from traditional “plan-driven” methodologies, the benefits it promises, and the real-world results it delivers. Next, they systematically map the Project Management Institute’s classic, methodology-independent techniques and terminology to agile practices. They cover both process and project lifecycles and carefully address vital issues ranging from scope and time to cost management and stakeholder communication. Finally, drawing on their own extensive personal experience, they put a human face on your personal transition to agile--covering the emotional challenges, personal values, and key leadership traits you’ll need to succeed.Coverage includes Relating the PMBOKR Guide ideals to agile practices: similarities, overlaps, and differences Understanding the role and value of agile techniques such as iteration/release planning and retrospectives Using agile techniques to systematically and continually reduce risk Implementing quality assurance (QA) where it belongs: in analysis, design, defect prevention, and continuous improvement Learning to trust your teams and listen for their discoveries Procuring, purchasing, and contracting for software in agile, collaborative environments Avoiding the common mistakes software teams make in transitioning to agile Coordinating with project management offices and non-agile teams “Selling” agile within your teams and throughout your organizationFor every project manager who wants to become more agile.Part I An Agile Overview 7Chapter 1 What is "Agile"? 9Chapter 2 Mapping from the PMBOKR Guide to Agile 25Chapter 3 The Agile Project Lifecycle in Detail 37Part II The Bridge: Relating PMBOKR Guide Practices to Agile Practices 49Chapter 4 Integration Management 51Chapter 5 Scope Management 67Chapter 6 Time Management 83Chapter 7 Cost Management 111Chapter 8 Quality Management 129Chapter 9 Human Resources Management 143Chapter 10 Communications Management 159Chapter 11 Risk Management 177Chapter 12 Procurement Management 197

A radical approach to getting IT projects done faster and cheaper than anyone thinks possibleSoftware in 30 Days summarizes the Agile and Scrum software development method, which allows creation of game-changing software, in just 30 days. Projects that use it are three times more successful than those that don't. Software in 30 Days is for the business manager, the entrepreneur, the product development manager, or IT manager who wants to develop software better and faster than they now believe possible. Learn how this unorthodox process works, how to get started, and how to succeed. Control risk, manage projects, and have your people succeed with simple but profound shifts in the thinking.The authors explain powerful concepts such as the art of the possible, bottom-up intelligence, and why it's good to fail early―all with no risk greater than thirty days. The productivity gain vs traditional "waterfall" methods has been over 100% on many projects Author Ken Schwaber is a co-founder of the Agile software movement, and co-creator, with Jeff Sutherland, of the "Scrum" technique for building software in 30 days Coauthor Jeff Sutherland was cosigner of the Agile Manifesto, which marked the start of the Agile movementSoftware in 30 Days is a must-read for all managers and business owners who use software in their organizations or in their products and want to stop the cycle of slow, expensive software development. Programmers will want to buy copies for their managers and their customers so they will know how to collaborate to get the best work possible.

eXtreme Programming is an ideal many software shops would love to reach, but with the constant pressures to produce software quickly, they cannot actually implement it. The Agile software process allows a company to implement eXtreme Programming quickly and immediately-and to begin producing software incrementally in as little as 30 days! Implementing eXtreme Programming is easier said than done. The process can be time consuming and actually slow down current software projects that are in process. This book shows readers how to use SCRUM, an Agile software development process, to quickly and seamlessly implement XP in their shop-while still producing actual software. Using SCRUM and the Agile process can virtually eliminate all downtime during an XP implementation.

See how to mine the experience of your software development team continually throughout the life of the project. The tools and recipes in this book will help you uncover and solve hidden (and not-so-hidden) problems with your technology, your methodology, and those difficult "people" issues on your team.Project retrospectives help teams examine what went right and what went wrong on a project. But traditionally, retrospectives (also known as "post-mortems") are only helpful at the end of the project--too late to help. You need agile retrospectives that are iterative and incremental. You need to accurately find and fix problems to help the team today.Now, Derby and Larsen show you the tools, tricks, and tips you need to fix the problems you face on a software development project on an on-going basis. You'll see how to architect retrospectives in general, how to design them specifically for your team and organization, how to run them effectively, how to make the needed changes, and how to scale these techniques up. You'll learn how to deal with problems, and implement solutions effectively throughout the project--not just at the end.With regular tune-ups, your team will hum like a precise, world-class orchestra.

The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect TimingMost people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

This pocket guide to Scrum is the one book for everyone who wants to learn or re-learn about Scrum. The book describes the framework as it was designed and intended, with a strong focus on the purpose to the rules and adding an historical perspective to Scrum and the Agile movement. As the balance of society keeps shifting from industrial labor to digital work, complexity and unpredictability keep increasing. The need for agility through Scrum increases equally, in and beyond software and product development. This 3rd edition of Scrum - A Pocket Guide, while introducing some changes in terminology, more than ever offers the clarity and insights on Scrum that many organizations need, more than ever. It will help people and their organizations properly shape their Scrum, regardless of their domain or business. Scrum – A Pocket Guide is an extraordinarily competent book. It flows with insight, understanding, and perception. This should be the de facto standard handout for all looking for a complete, yet clear overview of Scrum without being bothered by irrelevancies. (Ken Schwaber, Scrum co-creator) The author, Gunther Verheyen, is a seasoned Scrum practitioner (2003). He has been employing Scrum since 2003. He was partner to Ken Schwaber and Director of the Professional Scrum series at Scrum.org. He is the founder of Ullizee-Inc and engages with people and organizations as an independent Scrum Caretaker on a journey of humanizing the workplace with Scrum.

The rules and practices for Scrum—a simple process for managing complex projects—are few, straightforward, and easy to learn. But Scrum’s simplicity itself—its lack of prescription—can be disarming, and new practitioners often find themselves reverting to old project management habits and tools and yielding lesser results. In this illuminating series of case studies, Scrum co-creator and evangelist Ken Schwaber identifies the real-world lessons—the successes and failures—culled from his years of experience coaching companies in agile project management. Through them, you’ll understand how to use Scrum to solve complex problems and drive better results—delivering more valuable software faster. Gain the foundation in Scrum theory—and practice—you need to: \n\nRein in even the most complex, unwieldy projects \nEffectively manage unknown or changing product requirements \nSimplify the chain of command with self-managing development teams \nReceive clearer specifications—and feedback—from customers \nGreatly reduce project planning time and required tools \nBuild—and release—products in 30-day cycles so clients get deliverables earlier \nAvoid missteps by regularly inspecting, reporting on, and fine-tuning projects \nSupport multiple teams working on a large-scale project from many geographic locations \nMaximize return on investment! \n

The definitive account of the Scrum methodology from its co-creator and the CEO of Scrum, Inc., Jeff Sutherland. Scrum is the revolutionary approach to project management and team building that has helped to transform everything from software companies to the US military to healthcare in major American hospitals. In this major new book its originator, Jeff Sutherland, explains precisely and step by step how it operates - and how it can be made to work for anyone, anywhere.

The definitive guide to more effective and personally fulfilling game development with Agile Methods―now revamped to reflect ten more years of experience and improvementsGame development is in crisis―facing bloated budgets, impossible schedules, unmanageable complexity, and death-march overtime. It's no wonder so many development studios are struggling to survive. Fortunately, there is a solution. Agile and Lean methods have revolutionized development in the game development industry. In Agile Game Development, long-time game developer and consultant Clinton Keith shows exactly how these methods have been successfully applied to the unique challenges of modern game development.Clint has spent more than 25 years developing games and training and coaching hundreds of game development teams. Drawing on this unparalleled expertise, he shows how teams can use the practices of Scrum and Kanban, customized to game development, to deliver games more efficiently, rapidly, and cost-effectively; craft games that offer more entertainment value; and make life more fulfilling for development teams at the same time.Contains several new chapters on live games, leadership, and coaching, including an all-new section on Agile for large teams of up to 1000 developers Updates to all chapters to reflect a decade of experience with more than 200 studios Now covering Kanban and other Agile approaches alongside Scrum Understanding Agile goals, roles, and practices in the context of game development Discovering how Agile benefits every specialty in game development from art to QA Communicating and planning your game's vision, features, and progressGame developers and leaders are recognizing the modern challenges of gaming. Game development organizations need a far better way to work. Agile Game Development gives them that―and brings the profitability, creativity, and fun back to game development.

The authoritative account of the rise of Amazon and its intensely driven founder, Jeff Bezos, praised by the Seattle Times as "the definitive account of how a tech icon came to life."Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators -- Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg -- Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.The Everything Store is the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.

Te>Two of the industry’s most experienced agile testing practitioners and consultants, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory, have teamed up to bring you the definitive answers to these questions and many others. In Agile Testing, Crispin and Gregory define agile testing and illustrate the tester’s role with examples from real agile teams. They teach you how to use the agile testing quadrants to identify what testing is needed, who should do it, and what tools might help. The book chronicles an agile software development iteration from the viewpoint of a tester and explains the seven key success factorsof agile testing.Readers will come away from this book understandingHow to get testers engaged in agile development Where testers and QA managers fit on an agile team What to look for when hiring an agile tester How to transition from a traditional cycle to agile development How to complete testing activities in short iterations How to use tests to successfully guide development How to overcome barriers to test automationThis book is a must for agile testers, agile teams, their managers, and their customers.The eBook edition of Agile Testing also is available as part of a two-eBook collection, The Agile Testing Collection (9780134190624).

“Our job as Scrum professionals is to continually improve our ability to use Scrum to deliver products and services that help customers achieve valuable outcomes. This book will help you to improve your ability to apply Scrum.”―From the Foreword by Ken Schwaber, co-author of Scrum Mastering Professional Scrum is for anyone who wants to deliver increased value by using Scrum more effectively. Leading Scrum practitioners Stephanie Ockerman and Simon Reindl draw on years of Scrum training and coaching to help you return to first principles and apply Scrum with the professionalism required to achieve its transformative potential.The authors aim to help you focus on proven Scrum approaches for improving quality, getting and using fast feedback, and becoming more adaptable, instead of “going through the motions” and settling for only modest improvements.Whether you’re a Scrum Master, Development Team member, or Product Owner, you’ll find practical advice for facing challenges with transparency and courage, overcoming a wide array of common challenges, and continually improving your Scrum practice.Realistically assess your current Scrum practice, and identify areas for improvement Recognize what a great Scrum Team looks like and get there Focus on “Done”―not “sort-of-Done” or “almost-Done” Measure and optimize the value delivered by every Product Increment Improve the way you plan, develop, and grow Clear away wider organizational impediments to agility and professionalism Overcome common misconceptions that stand in the way of progress Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Flex your project management muscle Agile project management is a fast and flexible approach to managing all projects, not just software development. By learning the principles and techniques in this book, you'll be able to create a product roadmap, schedule projects, and prepare for product launches with the ease of Agile software developers. You'll discover how to manage scope, time, and cost, as well as team dynamics, quality, and risk of every project. \nAs mobile and web technologies continue to evolve rapidly, there is added pressure to develop and implement software projects in weeks instead of months―and Agile Project Management For Dummies can help you do just that. Providing a simple, step-by-step guide to Agile project management approaches, tools, and techniques, it shows product and project managers how to complete and implement projects more quickly than ever. \n\nComplete projects in weeks instead of months Reduce risk and leverage core benefits for projects Turn Agile theory into practice for all industries Effectively create an Agile environment \nGet ready to grasp and apply Agile principles for faster, more accurate development.

#1 New York Times BestsellerLegendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive.In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered.Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked.In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization.The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention.In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

Leadership Agility is the master competency needed for sustained success in today’s complex, fast-paced business environment. Richly illustrated with stories based on original research and decades of work with clients, this groundbreaking book identifies five levels that leaders move through in developing their agility. Significantly, only 10% have mastered the level of agility needed for consistent effectiveness in our turbulent era of global competition. Written in an engaging, down-to-earth style, this book not only provides a map that guides readers in identifying their current level of agility. It also provides practical advice and concrete examples that show managers and leadership development professionals how they can bring greater agility to the initiatives they take every day.

Thousands of IT professionals are being asked to make Scrum succeed in their organizations–including many who weren’t involved in the decision to adopt it. If you’re one of them, The Scrum Field Guide will give you skills and confidence to adopt Scrum more rapidly, more successfully, and with far less pain and fear. Long-time Scrum practitioner Mitch Lacey identifies major challenges associated with early-stage Scrum adoption, as well as deeper issues that emerge after companies have adopted Scrum, and describes how other organizations have overcome them. You’ll learn how to gain “quick wins” that build support, and then use the flexibility of Scrum to maximize value creation across the entire process. In 30 brief, engaging chapters, Lacey guides you through everything from defining roles to setting priorities to determining team velocity, choosing a sprint length, and conducting customer reviews. Along the way, he explains why Scrum can seem counterintuitive, offers a solid grounding in the core agile concepts that make it work, and shows where it can (and shouldn’t) be modified. Coverage includes Getting teams on board, and bringing new team members aboard after you’ve started Creating a “definition of done” for the team and organization Implementing the strong technical practices that are indispensable for agile success Balancing predictability and adaptability in release planning Keeping defects in check Running productive daily standup meetings Keeping people engaged with pair programming Managing culture clashes on Scrum teams Performing “emergency procedures” to get sprints back on track Establishing a pace your team can truly sustain Accurately costing projects, and measuring the value they deliver Documenting Scrum projects effectively Prioritizing and estimating large backlogs Integrating outsourced and offshored components Packed with real-world examples from Lacey’s own experience, this book is invaluable to everyone transitioning to agile: developers, architects, testers, managers, and project owners alike.

Winner of the 2011 Jolt Excellence Award!Getting software released to users is often a painful, risky, and time-consuming process.This groundbreaking new book sets out the principles and technical practices that enable rapid, incremental delivery of high quality, valuable new functionality to users. Through automation of the build, deployment, and testing process, and improved collaboration between developers, testers, and operations, delivery teams can get changes released in a matter of hours―sometimes even minutes–no matter what the size of a project or the complexity of its code base.Jez Humble and David Farley begin by presenting the foundations of a rapid, reliable, low-risk delivery process. Next, they introduce the “deployment pipeline,” an automated process for managing all changes, from check-in to release. Finally, they discuss the “ecosystem” needed to support continuous delivery, from infrastructure, data and configuration management to governance.The authors introduce state-of-the-art techniques, including automated infrastructure management and data migration, and the use of virtualization. For each, they review key issues, identify best practices, and demonstrate how to mitigate risks. Coverage includes Automating all facets of building, integrating, testing, and deploying software Implementing deployment pipelines at team and organizational levels Improving collaboration between developers, testers, and operations Developing features incrementally on large and distributed teams Implementing an effective configuration management strategy Automating acceptance testing, from analysis to implementation Testing capacity and other non-functional requirements Implementing continuous deployment and zero-downtime releases Managing infrastructure, data, components and dependencies Navigating risk management, compliance, and auditingWhether you’re a developer, systems administrator, tester, or manager, this book will help your organization move from idea to release faster than ever―so you can deliver value to your business rapidly and reliably.

Learning Agile is a comprehensive guide to the most popular agile methods, written in a light and engaging style that makes it easy for you to learn.Agile has revolutionized the way teams approach software development, but with dozens of agile methodologies to choose from, the decision to "go agile" can be tricky. This practical book helps you sort it out, first by grounding you in agile's underlying principles, then by describing four specific--and well-used--agile methods: Scrum, extreme programming (XP), Lean, and Kanban.Each method focuses on a different area of development, but they all aim to change your team's mindset--from individuals who simply follow a plan to a cohesive group that makes decisions together. Whether you're considering agile for the first time, or trying it again, you'll learn how to choose a method that best fits your team and your company.\nUnderstand the purpose behind agile's core values and principles\nLearn Scrum's emphasis on project management, self-organization, and collective commitment\nFocus on software design and architecture with XP practices such as test-first and pair programming\nUse Lean thinking to empower your team, eliminate waste, and deliver software fast\nLearn how Kanban's practices help you deliver great software by managing flow\nAdopt agile practices and principles with an agile coach\n

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business.Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to staff up. You don't need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don't even need an office. Those are all just excuses.What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You'll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you.With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of "downsizing," and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.

Teams -- the key to top performanceMotorola relied heavily on teams to surpass its competition in building the lightest, smallest, and highest-quality cell phones. At 3M, teams are critical to meeting the company's goal of producing half of each year's revenues from the previous five years' innovations. Kodak's Zebra Team proved the worth of black-and-white film manufacturing in a world where color is king.But many companies overtook the potential of teams in turning around tagging profits, entering new markets, and making exciting innovations happen -- because they don't know how to utilize teams successfully. Authors Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith talked with hundreds of people in more than thirty companies to find out where and how teams work best and how to enhance their effectiveness. They reveal:The most important element in team successWho excels at team leadership ... and why they are rarely the most senior peopleWhy companywide change depends on teams ... and moreComprehensive and proven effective, The Wisdom of Teams is the classic primer on making teams a powerful tool for success in today's global marketplace.

THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER WITH OVER 28 MILLION COPIES IN PRINT!A timeless business classic, Who Moved My Cheese? uses a simple parable to reveal profound truths about dealing with change so that you can enjoy less stress and more success in your work and in your life.It would be all so easy if you had a map to the Maze.If the same old routines worked.If they'd just stop moving "The Cheese."But things keep changing...Most people are fearful of change, both personal and professional, because they don't have any control over how or when it happens to them. Since change happens either to the individual or by the individual, Dr. Spencer Johnson, the coauthor of the multimillion bestseller The One Minute Manager, uses a deceptively simple story to show that when it comes to living in a rapidly changing world, what matters most is your attitude.Exploring a simple way to take the fear and anxiety out of managing the future, Who Moved My Cheese? can help you discover how to anticipate, acknowledge, and accept change in order to have a positive impact on your job, your relationships, and every aspect of your life.

An essential guide for any small group that must deliver team performance. With the demand for project-oriented work and faster, more nimble responses, successful small-group performance is more crucial than ever. Katzenbach and Smith, authors of the international bestseller The Wisdom of Teams, have again joined forces, revealing how to implement the disciplines, frameworks, tools, and techniques required for team- and small-group performance. Combining their insights and practical strategies, they offer concepts and pragmatic, doable exercises for team leaders and team members to deliver results. Hot topics covered include: why small-group performance demands expertise at two disciplines, team level and leader level, instead of one; virtual teams; and global teams. This book combines practical exercises with cutting-edge insights, and both authors are authorities on the subject. Attend a featured author workshop at the 13th International Conference on Work Teams: Collaborating for Competitive Advantage, September 23-25, 2002, in Dallas, TX. For information, contact the Center for the Study of Work Teams at 940 565 3096 or visit them online at www.workteams.unt.edu.

Explore and learn about Internet of Things with the help of engaging and enlightening tutorials designed for Raspberry Pi About This Book\nDesign and implement state-of-the-art solutions for Internet of Things using different communication protocols, patterns, C# and Raspberry Pi\nLearn the capabilities and differences between popular protocols and communication patterns and how they can be used, and should not be used, to create secure and interoperable services and things\nA step-by-step hands-on tutorial with complete source code, that provides interoperable solutions for sensors, actuators, controllers, cameras, and protocol brides\nWho This Book Is ForIf you're a developer or electronics engineer who is curious about Internet of Things, then this is the book for you. With only a rudimentary understanding of electronics, Raspberry Pi, or similar credit-card sized computers, and some programming experience using managed code such as C# or Java, you will be taught to develop state-of-the-art solutions for Internet of Things in an instant.What You Will Learn\nKnow the capabilities and limitations of the HTTP, UPnP, CoAP, MQTT, and XMPP protocols Use important communication patterns, such as the request/respond, publish/subscribe, event subscription, asynchronous messaging, and multicasting patterns Secure the life cycle of Things on the Internet by using Thing registries and delegation of trust Decrease complexity and development time by using Internet of Things service platforms Understand basic threats on the Internet and implement effective counter measures Combine interoperability and security to create open yet secure solutions Implement secure, scalable, decentralized, and interoperable architectures and solutions for Internet of Things In DetailThis book starts by exploring the popular HTTP, UPnP, CoAP, MQTT, and XMPP protocols. You will learn how protocols and patterns can put limitations on network topology and how they affect the direction of communication and the use of firewalls. Thing registries and delegation of trust are introduced as important tools to secure the life cycle of Things on the Internet. Once the fundamentals have been mastered, your focus will move to the Internet of Things architecture. A secure architecture is proposed that will take full advantage of the power of Internet of Things and at the same time protect end user integrity and private personal data without losing flexibility and interoperability.\nThis book provides you with a practical overview of the existing protocols, communication patterns, architectures, and security issues important to Internet of Things.

Title: Now Discover Your Strengths Binding: Hardcover Author: MarcusBuckingham Publisher: FreePress

Offers a guide to effective project management in many business settings. This book provides a synthesis of the diverse strategies and practices in project management. It builds upon scientific research of complex adaptive systems for project managers and executives faced with the challenge of monitoring and controlling agile projects.

Cuando te das cuenta de que, antes de hacer una crítica, los estadounidenses se hartan a halagos mientras que los alemanes no se andan con rodeos; o que los asiáticos muestran reverencia por la jerarquía, mientras que para los suecos cualquiera puede ser jefe, caes en que nos regimos por un contexto cultural que es imprescindible entender antes de pensar en relacionarse con alguien de otro país.La comunicación entre culturas es el gran reto de la economía global, y disponer de las claves necesarias para facilitar la comprensión puede ser la diferencia entre el éxito y el fracaso.La experta reconocida Erin Meyer desgrana los 8 puntos diferenciales de nuestros rasgos culturales y nos facilita las herramientas para afrontar de manera eficaz los retos comunicativos más comunes en el mundo de las relaciones internacionales. El mapa cultural se ha convertido en la obra de referencia para cualquier lector que quiera desenvolverse de la forma más consciente y cómoda en este terreno sutil, y a veces traicionero, en el que se espera que personas de orígenes distintos trabajen juntas en armonía.

“In this second edition of Extreme Programming Explained, Kent Beck organizes and presents five years’ worth of experiences, growth, and change revolving around XP. If you are seriously interested in understanding how you and your team can start down the path of improvement with XP, you must read this book.”― Francesco Cirillo, Chief Executive Officer, XPLabs S.R.L. “The first edition of this book told us what XP was―it changed the way many of us think about software development. This second edition takes it farther and gives us a lot more of the ‘why’ of XP, the motivations and the principles behind the practices. This is great stuff. Armed with the ‘what’ and the ‘why,’ we can now all set out to confidently work on the ‘how’: how to run our projects better, and how to get agile techniques adopted in our organizations.”― Dave Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmers LLC “This book is dynamite! It was revolutionary when it first appeared a few years ago, and this new edition is equally profound. For those who insist on cookbook checklists, there’s an excellent chapter on ‘primary practices,’ but I urge you to begin by truly contemplating the meaning of the opening sentence in the first chapter of Kent Beck’s book: ‘XP is about social change.’ You should do whatever it takes to ensure that every IT professional and every IT manager―all the way up to the CIO―has a copy of Extreme Programming Explained on his or her desk.”― Ed Yourdon, author and consultant “XP is a powerful set of concepts for simplifying the process of software design, development, and testing. It is about minimalism and incrementalism, which are especially useful principles when tackling complex problems that require a balance of creativity and discipline.”― Michael A. Cusumano, Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of The Business of Software “ Extreme Programming Explained is the work of a talented and passionate craftsman. Kent Beck has brought together a compelling collection of ideas about programming and management that deserves your full attention. My only beef is that our profession has gotten to a point where such common-sense ideas are labeled ‘extreme.’...”― Lou Mazzucchelli, Fellow, Cutter Business Technology Council “If your organization is ready for a change in the way it develops software, there’s the slow incremental approach, fixing things one by one, or the fast track, jumping feet first into Extreme Programming. Do not be frightened by the name, it is not that extreme at all. It is mostly good old recipes and common sense, nicely integrated together, getting rid of all the fat that has accumulated over the years.”― Philippe Kruchten, UBC, Vancouver, British Columbia “Sometimes revolutionaries get left behind as the movement they started takes on a life of its own. In this book, Kent Beck shows that he remains ahead of the curve, leading XP to its next level. Incorporating five years of feedback, this book takes a fresh look at what it takes to develop better software in less time and for less money. There are no silver bullets here, just a set of practical principles that, when used wisely, can lead to dramatic improvements in software development productivity.”― Mary Poppendieck, author of Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit “Kent Beck has revised his classic book based on five more years of applying and teaching XP. He shows how the path to XP is both

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Creating a unique value for your customers is crucial if you want to differentiate in an overcrowded market. To do so, you need to define a powerful strategy that determines consistent action across your organization to deliver your unique flavor. Szóstek describes this strategy as umami, which is the fifth category of taste (besides sweet, sour, salt and bitter), and gives an exceptional flavor to your food.How do you build a powerful yet actionable strategy, and successfully implement it across your organization? Many leaders, marketers and designers try to answer these questions. The Umami Strategy proposes a novel approach that will help you build and execute an experience strategy. The model used in the book allows you to (a) find out what stories your customers are telling today; (b) uncover motivators and demotivators that guide these stories; (c) envision the ideal future experience you want to deliver; (d) define the actionable measures that will ensure progress toward that vision; and (e) evaluate that progress through future customer stories.Enjoyable, practical and full of hidden gems and tips, this book will help you get your organization to align with building a unique market value through delivering memorable experiences to your customers. Because to be noticed, you need to stand out of the crowd.

Named one of 100 Leadership & Success Books to Read in a Lifetime by Amazon EditorsThe world’s most trusted guide for leaders in transitionTransitions are a critical time for leaders. In fact, most agree that moving into a new role is the biggest challenge a manager will face. While transitions offer a chance to start fresh and make needed changes in an organization, they also place leaders in a position of acute vulnerability. Missteps made during the crucial first three months in a new role can jeopardize or even derail your success.In this updated and expanded version of the international bestseller The First 90 Days, Michael D. Watkins offers proven strategies for conquering the challenges of transitions—no matter where you are in your career. Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions and adviser to senior leaders in all types of organizations, also addresses today’s increasingly demanding professional landscape, where managers face not only more frequent transitions but also steeper expectations once they step into their new jobs.By walking you through every aspect of the transition scenario, Watkins identifies the most common pitfalls new leaders encounter and provides the tools and strategies you need to avoid them. You’ll learn how to secure critical early wins, an important first step in establishing yourself in your new role. Each chapter also includes checklists, practical tools, and self-assessments to help you assimilate key lessons and apply them to your own situation.Whether you’re starting a new job, being promoted from within, embarking on an overseas assignment, or being tapped as CEO, how you manage your transition will determine whether you succeed or fail. Use this book as your trusted guide.

Today’s new breed, eXtreme projects are different. They feature high speed, high change, high complexity, high risk, and high stress. While traditional projects follow the classic model of ready, aim, fire, eXtreme project managers succeed by shooting the gun and then redirecting the bullet while not loosing sight of their moving target. eXtreme Project Management provides a practical guide for leaders working under high risk and high pressure while producing the desired bottom-line results. Based on Doug DeCarlo’s extensive experience in working with more than 250 project teams, his eXtreme project management model is built around an integrated set of principles, values, skills, tools, and practices proven to consistently work under conditions of rapid change and uncertainty. eXtreme project management is based on the premise that you don’t manage the unknown the same way you manage the known. It’s a people-centric approach to high performance that makes quality of life a fundamental part of the project venture.

Denne, a business manager for a big software company, and Cleland-Huang apply ideas in application development methodologies to achieving financial rather than technological benefit.

A radical new management model for twenty-first century leaders Organizations today face a crisis. The crisis is of long standing and its signs are widespread. Most proposals for improving management address one element of the crisis at the expense of the others. The principles described by award-winning author Stephen Denning simultaneously inspire high productivity, continuous innovation, deep job satisfaction and client delight. Denning puts forward a fundamentally different approach to management, with seven inter-locking principles of continuous innovation: focusing the entire organization on delighting clients; working in self-organizing teams; operating in client-driven iterations; delivering value to clients with each iteration; fostering radical transparency; nurturing continuous self-improvement and communicating interactively. In sum, the principles comprise a new mental model of management. \nAuthor outlines the basic seven principles of continuous innovation The book describes more than seventy supporting practices Denning offers a rethinking of management from first principles \nThis book is written by the author of The Secret Language of Leadership―a Financial Times Selection in Best Books of 2007.

A world-renowned innovation guru explains practices that result in breakthrough innovations"Ulwick's outcome-driven programs bring discipline and predictability to the often random process of innovation."-Clayton ChristensenFor years, companies have accepted the underlying principles that define the customer-driven paradigm--that is, using customer "requirements" to guide growth and innovation. But twenty years into this movement, breakthrough innovations are still rare, and most companies find that 50 to 90 percent of their innovation initiatives flop. The cost of these failures to U.S. companies alone is estimated to be well over $100 billion annually.In a book that challenges everything you have learned about being customer driven, internationally acclaimed innovation leader Anthony Ulwick reveals the secret weapon behind some of the most successful companies of recent years. Known as "outcome-driven" innovation, this revolutionary approach to new product and service creation transforms innovation from a nebulous art into a rigorous science from which randomness and uncertainty are eliminated.Based on more than 200 studies spanning more than seventy companies and twenty-five industries, Ulwick contends that, when it comes to innovation, the traditional methods companies use to communicate with customers are the root cause of chronic waste and missed opportunity. In What Customers Want, Ulwick demonstrates that all popular qualitative research methods yield well-intentioned but unfitting and dreadfully misleading information that serves to derail the innovation process. Rather than accepting customer inputs such as "needs," "benefits," "specifications," and "solutions," Ulwick argues that researchers should silence the literal "voice of the customer" and focus on the "metrics that customers use to measure success when executing the jobs, tasks or activities they are trying to get done." Using these customer desired outcomes as inputs into the innovation process eliminates much of the chaos and variability that typically derails innovation initiatives.With the same profound insight, simplicity, and uncommon sense that propelled The Innovator's Solution to worldwide acclaim, this paradigm-changing book details an eight-step approach that uses outcome-driven thinking to dramatically improve every aspect of the innovation process--from segmenting markets and identifying opportunities to creating, evaluating, and positioning breakthrough concepts. Using case studies from Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, AIG, Pfizer, and other leading companies, What Customers Want shows companies how to: Obtain unique customer inputs that make predictable innovation possible Recognize opportunities for disruption, new market creation, and core market growth--well before competitors do Identify which ideas, technologies, and acquisitions have the greatest potential for creating customer value Systematically define breakthrough products and services conceptsInnovation is fundamental to success and business growth. Offering a proven alternative to failed customer-driven thinking, this landmark book arms you with the tools to unleash innovation, lower costs, and reduce failure rates--and create the products and services customers really want.

The Professional Product Owner's Guide to Maximizing Value with Scrum"This book presents a method of communicating our desires, cogently, coherently, and with a minimum of fuss and bother."―Ken Schwaber, Chairman & Founder, Scrum.orgThe role of the Product Owner is more crucial than ever. But it's about much more than mechanics: it's about taking accountability and refocusing on value as the primary objective of all you do. In The Professional Product Owner, two leading experts in successful Scrum product ownership show exactly how to do this. You'll learn how to identify where value can be found, measure it, and maximize it throughout your entire product lifecycle.Drawing on their combined 40+ years of experience in using agile and Scrum in product management, Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham guide you through all facets of envisioning, emerging, and maturing a product using the Scrum framework.McGreal and Jocham discuss strategy, showing how to connect Vision, Value, and Validation in ROI-focused agile product management. They lay out Scrum best-practices for managing complexity and continuously delivering value, and they define the concrete practices and tools you can use to manage Product Backlogs and release plans, all with the goal of making you a more successful Product Owner. Throughout, the authors share revealing personal experiences that illuminate obstacles to success and show how they can be overcome. Define success from the "outside in," using external customer-driven measurements to guide development and maximize value Bring empowerment and entrepreneurship to the Product Owner's role, and align everyone behind a shared business model Use Evidence-Based Management (EBMgt) to invest in the right places, make smarter decisions, and reduce risk Effectively apply Scrum's Product Owner role, artifacts, and events Populate and manage Product Backlogs, and use just-in-time specifications Plan and manage releases, improve transparency, and reduce technical debt Scale your product, not your Scrum Use Scrum to inject autonomy, mastery, and purpose into your product team's work Whatever your role in product management or agile development, this guide will help you deliver products that offer more value, more rapidly, and more often.Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

With agile practices becoming the standard, the call for product leadership has never been louder. Meanwhile, product managers are drowning in feature alignment and internal takeholder discussions; slowed by technical and organizational complexity; and crippled by risk-averse company cultures. How can they focus on clear market outcomes when fear and uncertainty cloud the way?Long ago the Samurai learned that agility in itself was not enough. They understood that leadership comes from an unwavering vision, clear values and the relentless exercise of martial arts training practices, or katas.The way of 'The Product Samurai' is not merely a collection of tactics; it is the mastery of a strategic role that directly influences revenue, customer retention, and awareness. The purpose extends beyond the positioning and growth of a single product; it encompasses entire product lines and business as a whole. By applying katas to product leadership, we can wield the “sword of agility” to make products right, and to make the right products.Read it, practice and follow the path to develop great products that people actually want and make the world a better place. “Read at your own peril. This book will change the way you manage your products.”

The book Lifehack calls "The Bible of business and personal productivity.""A completely revised and updated edition of the blockbuster bestseller from 'the personal productivity guru'"—Fast CompanySince it was first published almost fifteen years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. “GTD” is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with important perspectives on the new workplace, and adding material that will make the book fresh and relevant for years to come. This new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by its hundreds of thousands of existing fans but also by a whole new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.

The world's foremost entrepreneurial coach shows you how to make a mindset shift that opens the door to explosive growth and limitless possibility--in your business and your life.Have you ever had a new idea or a goal that excites you... but not enough time to execute it? What about a goal you really want to accomplish...but can't because instead of taking action, you procrastinate? Do you feel like the only way things are going to get done is if you do them? But what if it wasn't that way? What if you had a team of people around you that helped you accomplish your goals (while you helped them accomplish theirs)?When we want something done, we've been trained to ask ourselves: "How can I do this?" Well, there is a better question to ask. One that unlocks a whole new world of ease and accomplishment. Expert coach Dan Sullivan knows the question we should ask instead: "Who can do this for me?"This may seem simple. And it is. But don't let the lack of complexity fool you. By mastering this question, you will quickly learn how billionaires and successful entrepreneurs like Dan build incredible businesses and personal freedom.This book will teach you how to make this essential paradigm-shift so you can:* Build a successful business effectively while not killing yourself* Immediately free-up 1,000+ hours of work that you shouldn't be doing anyway* Bypass the typical scarcity and decline of aging and other societal norms* Increase your vision in all areas of life and build teams of WHOs to support you in that vision* Never be limited in your goals and ambitions again* Expand your abundance of wealth, innovation, relationships, and joy* Build a life where everything you do is your choice--how you spend your time, how much money you make, the quality of your relationships, and the type of work you doMaking this shift involves retraining your brain to stop limiting your potential based on what you solely can do and instead focus on the nearly infinite and endless connections between yourself and other people as well as the limitless transformation possible through those connections.

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLERAll prospects lie, all the time. Never ask for the order. Get an I.O.U. for everything you do. Don t spill your candy in the lobby.Until now, these unique rules (and 45 more) were given out only to Sandler Training clients in special seminars and private coaching. After three decades of proven success, the secrets are out in The Sandler Rules. And when salespeople know the rules, they get results.Early in his sales career, David Sandler observed that some salespeople work hard and struggle for every deal, while others consistently, and almost effortlessly, uncover new opportunities and close sales. Why is it, he wondered, that two salespeople selling the same product in the same market can have such different results?Are great salespeople born with a special gift--perhaps the right personality? Were they better educated? Did they have more experience? Were they just lucky to find themselves in the right places at the right times with the right people? No, they simply understood human relationships.Using Eric Berne's Transactional Analysis, Sandler devised a selling system and distilled forty-nine unforgettable rules that are frank, sometimes fun, and always easy to put to use. Sandler Training CEO David Mattson, coauthor of Five Minutes with VITO, delivers this fresh and often funny guidebook, filled with real-world tactics for successful prospecting, qualifying, deal-making, closing, and referral generation.In the first week of release, the Amazon ranking of The Sandler Rules shot to:#1 in the Sales and Selling category#2 in Hot New Releases--business books#3 in business books#23 worldwide!

With detailed scenarios, imaginative illustrations, and step-by-step instructions, consultant Norman L. Kerth guides readers through productive, painless retrospectives of project performance. \nWhether your shop calls them postmortems or postpartums or something else, project retrospectives offer organizations a formal method for preserving the valuable lessons learned from the successes and failures of every project. These lessons and the measurements they yield foster stronger teams and savings on subsequent efforts. \nFor a retrospective to be effective and successful, though, it needs to be safe. Kerth shows facilitators and participants how to defeat the fear of retribution and establish an air of mutual trust. One tool is Kerth's Prime Directive: Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand. \nApplying years of experience as a project retrospective facilitator for software organizations, Kerth reveals his secrets for managing the sensitive, often emotionally charged issues that arise as teams relive and learn from each project. \nDon't move on to your next project without consulting and using this readable, practical handbook. Each member of your team will be better prepared for the next deadline.

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Most organizational change initiatives fail spectacularly (at worst) or deliver lukewarm results (at best). In his international bestseller Leading Change, John Kotter revealed why change is so hard, and provided an actionable, eight-step process for implementing successful transformations. The book became the change bible for managers worldwide.Now, in A Sense of Urgency, Kotter shines the spotlight on the crucial first step in his framework: creating a sense of urgency by getting people to actually see and feel the need for change.Why focus on urgency? Without it, any change effort is doomed. Kotter reveals the insidious nature of complacency in all its forms and guises.In this exciting new book, Kotter explains:· How to go beyond "the business case" for change to overcome the fear and anger that can suppress urgency· Ways to ensure that your actions and behaviors -- not just your words -- communicate the need for change· How to keep fanning the flames of urgency even after your transformation effort has scored some early successesWritten in Kotter's signature no-nonsense style, this concise and authoritative guide helps you set the stage for leading a successful transformation in your company.

Agile development processes foster better collaboration, innovation, and results. So why limit their use to software projects—when you can transform your entire business? Written by agile-mentoring expert Jochen Krebs, this book illuminates the opportunities—and rewards—of applying agile processes to your overall IT portfolio. Whether project manager, business analyst, or executive—you’ll understand the business drivers behind agile portfolio management. And learn best practices for optimizing results. Use agile processes to align IT and business strategy \nAdapt and extend core agile processes Orchestrate the collaboration between IT and business vision Eliminate wish-list driven requirements, and manage expectations instead Optimize the balance of projects, resources, and assets in your portfolio Use metrics to communicate project status, quality, even team morale Create a portfolio strategy consistent with the goals of the organization Achieve organizational and process transparency Manage your business with agility—and help maximize the returns!

From Jocko Willink, the New York Times best selling author of Discipline Equals Freedom and Leadership Strategy and Tactics, an updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special forces unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life. Now with an excerpt from the authors' new book, THE DICHOTOMY OF LEADERSHIP.Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq. As leaders of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership―at every level―is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training to pass on their harsh lessons of self-discipline, mental toughness and self-defense learned in combat to help forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After leaving the SEAL Teams, they launched a company, Echelon Front, to teach those same leadership principles to leaders in businesses, companies, and organizations across the civilian sector. Since that time, they have trained countless leaders and worked with hundreds of companies in virtually every industry across the U.S. and internationally, teaching them how to develop their own high-performance teams and most effectively lead those teams to dominate their battlefields.Since it’s release in October 2015, Extreme Ownership has revolutionized leadership development and set a new standard for literature on the subject. Required reading for many of the most successful organizations, it has become an integral part of the official leadership training programs for scores of business teams, military units, and first responders. Detailing the resilient mindset and total focus principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult combat missions, Extreme Ownership demonstrates how to apply them to any team or organization, in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.

With more than 10 million copies sold in 28 countries, the world's most popular job-search book is updated for 2020, tailoring Richard Bolles's long-trusted guidance with up-to-the-minute information and advice for today's job-hunters and career-changers.NAMED ONE OF THE ALL-TIME 100 BEST NONFICTION BOOKS BY TIMEWhat Color Is Your Parachute? is the world’s most popular job-hunting guide, revised and updated annually with more than ten million copies sold. This newly streamlined edition features the latest resources, case studies, and perspectives on today’s job market, revealing surprising advice on what works—and what doesn’t—so you can focus your efforts on tactics that yield results.At its core is Richard N. Bolles’s famed Flower Exercise, a unique self-inventory that helps you design your career—and your life—around your key passions, transferable skills, traits, and more.This practical manual also provides essential tips for writing impressive resumes and cover letters, networking effectively, interviewing with confidence, and negotiating the best salary possible.Whether you’re searching for your first job, were recently laid off, or are dreaming of a career change, What Color Is Your Parachute? will guide you toward a fulfilling and prosperous life’s work.

In this informative and inspirational book, Coach K, Duke University's head basketball coach, tells readers how he coaxes peak performances from his team, relying on lessons he learned as a captain in the U.S. Army.Duke University's head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has proved himself a leader both on and off the court. He's led the Duke Blue Devils to five straight Final Four appearances, culminating in back-to-back championships in 1991 and '92. He has received five National Coach of the Year Awards—and many of the players he coached in college have gone on to NBA stardom.From sportsmanship to respect, Leading with the Heart is a genuine gift from a coach who knows how to lead with heart.

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 20 million copies sold!Tiny Changes, Remarkable ResultsNo matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.Learn how to:make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; design your environment to make success easier; get back on track when you fall off course; ...and much more.Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

What's your ONE thing?People are using this simple, powerful concept to focus on what matters most in their personal and work lives. Companies are helping their employees be more productive with study groups, training, and coaching. Sales teams are boosting sales. Churches are conducting classes and recommending for their members.By focusing their energy on one thing at a time people are living more rewarding lives by building their careers, strengthening their finances, losing weight and getting in shape, deepening their faith, and nurturing stronger marriages and personal relationships.YOU WANT LESS. You want fewer distractions and less on your plate. The daily barrage of e-mails, texts, tweets, messages, and meetings distract you and stress you out. The simultaneous demands of work and family are taking a toll. And what's the cost? Second-rate work, missed deadlines, smaller paychecks, fewer promotions--and lots of stress.AND YOU WANT MORE. You want more productivity from your work. More income for a better lifestyle. You want more satisfaction from life, and more time for yourself, your family, and your friends.NOW YOU CAN HAVE BOTH ― LESS AND MORE. In The ONE Thing, you'll learn to: cut through the clutter achieve better results in less time build momentum toward your goal dial down the stress overcome that overwhelmed feeling revive your energy stay on track master what matters to youThe book has: Made on more than 575 appearances on national bestseller lists Been #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller, New York Times bestseller, and USA Today bestseller Been translated into 40 languages Won 12 book awards Voted Top 100 Business Book of All Time on GoodreadsThe ONE Thing delivers extraordinary results in every area of your life--work, personal, family, and spiritual. WHAT'S YOUR ONE THING?

The New York Times best-selling team leadership handbook for modern executives, managers, and organizationsAfter her first two weeks observing the problems at DecisionTech, Kathryn Petersen, its new CEO, had more than a few moments when she wondered if she should have taken the job. But Kathryn knew there was little chance she would have turned it down. After all, retirement had made her antsy, and nothing excited her more than a challenge. What she could not have known when she accepted the job, however, was just how dysfunctional her team was, and how team members would challenge her in ways that no one ever had before.For twenty years, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been engaging audiences with a page-turning, realistic fable that follows the travails of Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech’s CEO, as she faces the ultimate leadership crisis. She must unite a team in such disarray that it threatens to derail the entire company.Equal parts leadership fable and business handbook, this definitive source on teamwork by Patrick Lencioni reveals the five behavioral tendencies that go to the heart of why even the best teams struggle. He offers a powerful model and step-by-step guide for overcoming those dysfunctions and getting every one rowing in the same direction.Today, the lessons in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team are more relevant than ever. This special anniversary edition celebrates one of the best-selling business books of all time with a new foreword from the author that reflects on its legacy and lessons.

63 New and Updated Patterns for Driving and Sustaining Change “The hard part of change is enlisting the support of other people. Whether a top manager interested in improving your organization’s results or a lone developer promoting a better way of working, this book will give you tools and ideas to help accomplish your goal.” –George Dinwiddie, independent coach and consultant, iDIA Computing, LLC “Keep the patterns in this book and Fearless Change handy. … These patterns transformed me from an ineffective ‘voice in the wilderness’ to a valued collaborator.” –Lisa Crispin, co-author (with Janet Gregory) of Agile Testing and More Agile Testing In their classic work, Fearless Change, Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising interviewed successful leaders of change, identified 48 patterns for implementing change in teams of all sizes, and demonstrated how to use these techniques effectively. Now, in More Fearless Change the authors reflect on all they’ve learned about their original patterns in the past decade, and introduce 15 powerful, new techniques–all extensively validated by change leaders worldwide. Manns and Rising teach strategies that appeal to each individual’s logic (head), feelings (heart), and desire to contribute (hands)–the best way to motivate real change and sustain it for the long haul. Learn how to \n Focus on the best things you can achieve with limited resources \n Strategize to build flexible plans and go after low-hanging fruit \n Get help from the right people in the right ways \n Establish emotional connections that inspire motivation and imagination \n Create an “elevator pitch” that keeps everyone focused on what truly matters \n Build bridges, work with skeptics, soften resistance, and open minds \n Uncover easier paths towards change, and build on what already works \n Sustain momentum, provide time for reflection, and celebrate small successes More Fearless Change reflects a profound understanding of how real change happens: not instantaneously in response to top-down plans and demands, but iteratively, through small steps that teach from experience. Best of all, as thousands of change agents have already discovered, its patterns are easy to use–and they work.

*New York Times bestseller—over 40 million copies sold**The #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century*One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has captivated readers for nearly three decades. It has transformed the lives of presidents and CEOs, educators and parents—millions of people of all ages and occupations. Now, this 30th anniversary edition of the timeless classic commemorates the wisdom of the 7 Habits with modern additions from Sean Covey.The 7 Habits have become famous and are integrated into everyday thinking by millions and millions of people. Why? Because they work!With Sean Covey’s added takeaways on how the habits can be used in our modern age, the wisdom of the 7 Habits will be refreshed for a new generation of leaders.They include:Habit 1: Be ProactiveHabit 2: Begin with the End in MindHabit 3: Put First Things FirstHabit 4: Think Win/WinHabit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be UnderstoodHabit 6: SynergizeHabit 7: Sharpen the SawThis beloved classic presents a principle-centered approach for solving both personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and practical anecdotes, Stephen R. Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity—principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally.The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge.To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself with the master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline.As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future.Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

Science writer David DiSalvo distills the latest research on how our brains work into easy-to-understand lessons that will give average readers insights into their habitual behavior.This book reveals a remarkable paradox: what your brain wants is frequently not what your brain needs. In fact, much of what makes our brains "happy" leads to errors, biases, and distortions, which cloud our judgment and muddle our decision making. Science writer David DiSalvo presents evidence from evolutionary and social psychology, cognitive science, neurology, and even marketing and economics. And he interviews many of the top thinkers in psychology and neuroscience today. From this research-based platform, DiSalvo draws out insights that we can use to identify our brains' foibles and turn our awareness into edifying action. Ultimately, he argues, the research does not serve up ready-made answers, but provides us with actionable clues for overcoming the plight of our advanced brains and, consequently, living more fulfilled lives. Newly revised to include the latest research on the workings of the brain, What Makes Your Brain Happy is an essential tool for understanding yourself.

“This parenting book actually made me a better parent.”—Lydia Kiesling, The New York TimesFrom #1 New York Times bestselling authors, the ultimate “parenting bible” (The Boston Globe)—a timeless, beloved book on how to effectively communicate with your child.This bestselling classic by internationally acclaimed experts on communication between parents and children includes fresh insights and suggestions, as well as the author’s time-tested methods to solve common problems and build foundations for lasting relationships, including innovative ways to:· Cope with your child’s negative feelings, such as frustration, anger, and disappointment· Express your strong feelings without being hurtful· Engage your child’s willing cooperation· Set firm limits and maintain goodwill· Use alternatives to punishment that promote self-discipline· Understand the difference between helpful and unhelpful praise· Resolve family conflicts peacefullyEnthusiastically praised by parents and professionals around the world, Faber and Mazlish’s down-to-earth, respectful approach makes relationships with children of all ages less stressful and more rewarding.

In this classic text, Taiichi Ohno--inventor of the Toyota Production System and Lean manufacturing--shares the genius that sets him apart as one of the most disciplined and creative thinkers of our time. Combining his candid insights with a rigorous analysis of Toyota's attempts at Lean production, Ohno's book explains how Lean principles can improve any production endeavor. A historical and philosophical description of just-in-time and Lean manufacturing, this work is a must read for all students of human progress. On a more practical level, it continues to provide inspiration and instruction for those seeking to improve efficiency through the elimination of waste.

The common denominator/bottom line for both the professional service firm/PSF and the individual/Brand You is: the project. And for the cool individual in the cool professional service firm there is only one answer: the cool project.A seminar participant said: "Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes." So, how many of you are at work -- right now -- on "mediocre successes"? At work on projects that won't be recalled, let alone recalled with fondness and glee, a year from now? We don't study professional service firms. (Mistake.) And we don't study WOW Projects. (Worse mistake.) There is, of course, a project management literature. But it's awful. Or, at least, misleading. It focuses almost exclusively on the details of planning and tracking progress and totally ignores the important stuff like: Is it cool? Is it beautiful? Will it make a difference? My No.1 epithet: "On time . . . on budget . . . who cares?" I.e., does it matter? Will you be bragging about it two--or ten--years from now? Is it a WOW project?So, then: Step #1 . . .the organization . . .the professional service firm/PSF 1.0. Step 2 . . .the individual . . .the pursuit of distinction/Brand You. And: Step #3 . . . the work itself . . . the memorable project/WOW Projects. The Project50 is a simple and handy guide that provides 50 easy steps to help the modern businessperson choose the right project, find the right team, develop strategies for success, and ultimately know when it's time to move on.See also the other 50List titles in the Reinventing Work series by Tom Peters -- The Brand You50 and The Professional Service Firm50 -- for additional information on how to make an impact in the professional world.

No matter how hard you try to reason with irrational people, it never works. So how do you talk to someone who just won't listen? You can't win by ignoring the insanity, and you can't argue it away. However, you can stop it cold.Top-ranked psychiatrist and communication expert Mark Goulston shows you just how to do so in this life-changing book for everyone trapped in maddening personal or professional relationships.Goulston unlocks the mysteries of the irrational mind, and explains how faulty thinking patterns develop. His keen insights are matched by a set of counterintuitive strategies proven to defuse crazy behavior, along with scripts, examples, and exercises that teach you how to use them.In Talking to “Crazy”, you will learn: Why people act the way they do How instinctive responses can exacerbate the situation, and what to do instead When to confront a problem and when to walk away How to activate the Sanity Cycle, which quickly transforms you from threat to ally How to use 14 simple yet effective communication techniques, including assertive submission flattery, the kiss-off, and moreYou can't reason with unreasonable people, but you can reach them. Talking to “Crazy” shows you just how easy it is to do it.

The New York Times bestseller that explains why certain products and ideas become popular.“Jonah Berger knows more about what makes information ‘go viral’ than anyone in the world.” —Daniel Gilbert, author of the bestseller Stumbling on HappinessWhat makes things popular? If you said advertising, think again. People don’t listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He’s studied why New York Times articles make the paper’s own Most E-mailed list, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children.In Contagious, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheesesteak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the most boring products there is: a blender.Contagious provides specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, advertisements, and content that people will share. Whether you’re a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.

“Collaboration Explained is a deeply pragmatic book that helps agile practitioners understand and manage complex organizational and team dynamics. As an agile coach, I’ve found the combination of straightforward advice and colorful anecdotes to be invaluable in guiding and focusing interactions with my teams. Jean’s wealth of experience is conveyed in a carefully struck balance of reference guides and prose, facilitating just-in-time learning in the agile spirit. All in all, a superb resource for building stronger teams that’s fit for agile veterans and neophytes alike.” —Arlen Bankston, Lean Agile Practice Manager, CC Pace “If Agile is the new ‘what,’ then surely Collaboration is the new ‘how.’ There are many things I really like about Jean’s new book. Right at the top of the list is that I don’t have to make lists of ideas for collaboration and facilitation anymore. Jean has it all. Not only does she have those great ideas for meetings, retrospectives, and team decision-making that I need to remember, but the startling new and thought-provoking ideas are there too. And the stories, the stories, the stories! The best way to transfer wisdom. Thanks, Jean!” —Linda Rising, Independent Consultant The Hands-On Guide to Effective Collaboration in Agile Projects To succeed, an agile project demands outstanding collaboration among all its stakeholders. But great collaboration doesn’t happen by itself; it must be carefully planned and facilitated throughout the entire project lifecycle. Collaboration Explained is the first book to bring together proven, start-to-finish techniques for ensuring effective collaboration in any agile software project. Since the early days of the agile movement, Jean Tabaka has been studying and promoting collaboration in agile environments. Drawing on her unsurpassed experience, she offers clear guidelines and easy-to-use collaboration templates for every significant project event: from iteration and release planning, through project chartering, all the way through post-project retrospectives. Tabaka’s hands-on techniques are applicable to every leading agile methodology, from Extreme Programming and Scrum to Crystal Clear. Above all, they are practical: grounded in a powerful understanding of the technical, business, and human challenges you face as a project manager or development team member. · Build collaborative software development cultures, leaders, and teams · Prepare yourself to collaborate—and prepare your team · Define clear roles for each participant in promoting collaboration · Set your collaborative agenda · Master tools for organizing collaboration more efficiently · Run effective collaborative meetings—including brainstorming sessions · Promote better small-group and pair-programming collaboration · Get better information, and use it to make better decisions · Use non-abusive conflict to drive positive outcomes · Collaborate to estimate projects and schedules more accurately · Strengthen collaboration across distributed, virtual teams · Extend collaboration from individual projects to the entire development organization

Knowledge Management (KM) is the art and science of utilizing knowledge as the most important resource towards gaining competitive advantage in today's business environment. Despite the huge and growing interest in KM, there has been no serious attempt to bridge theory and practice, the practices of East and West, the soft side (organizational capabilities) with the hard side (information technology), or the practices of large companies with start-ups. Until now. Written by the Dean of Hitotsubashi Business School in Tokyo, the world's leading centre of KM, and featuring contributions from thought leaders around the world, this book will provide a synthesis towards the emerging field of KM. It brings together the latest trends in the field and re-ignites the debate on the future form of knowledge management.

Radical Project Management introduces eXtreme Project Management (xpm), the first radically new approach to project management in decades! Traditional project management is inward looking, static, and doesn't respond to rapid, constant change. xpm looks outward to stakeholders, management, and clients, and thoroughly involves them in an agile process that assumes everything will change. Rob Thomsett presents xpm from start to finish and introduces every tool and technique you need to make it work in your organization.

No is perhaps the most important and certainly the most powerful word in the language. Every day we find ourselves in situations where we need to say No–to people at work, at home, and in our communities–because No is the word we must use to protect ourselves and to stand up for everything and everyone that matters to us. But as we all know, the wrong No can also destroy what we most value by alienating and angering people. That’s why saying No the right way is crucial. The secret to saying No without destroying relationships lies in the art of the Positive No, a proven technique that anyone can learn. This indispensable book gives you a simple three-step method for saying a Positive No. It will show you how to assert and defend your key interests; how to make your No firm and strong; how to resist the other side’s aggression and manipulation; and how to do all this while still getting to Yes. In the end, the Positive No will help you get not just to any Yes but to the right Yes, the one that truly serves your interests. Based on William Ury’s celebrated Harvard University course for managers and professionals, The Power of a Positive No offers concrete advice and practical examples for saying No in virtually any situation. Whether you need to say No to your customer or your coworker, your employee or your CEO, your child or your spouse, you will find in this book the secret to saying No clearly, respectfully, and effectively. In today’s world of high stress and limitless choices, the pressure to give in and say Yes grows greater every day, producing overload and overwork, expanding e-mail and eroding ethics. Never has No been more needed. A Positive No has the power to profoundly transform our lives by enabling us to say Yes to what counts–our own needs, values, and priorities. Understood this way, No is the new Yes. And the Positive No may be the most valuable life skill you’ll ever learn!

Pair programming is a simple, straightforward concept. Two programmers work side-by-side at one computer, continuously collaborating on the same design, algorithm, code, and test. It produces a higher quality of code in about half the time than that produced by the summation of their solitary efforts. However, nothing is simple where people and personalities are involved--especially people who are accustomed to working alone. The leap to pair programming for a variety of software development projects is one that yields many benefits. However, it is also one that requires careful thought and planning.

Extreme Programming (Xp) is a radical new approach to software development that has been accepted quickly because its core practices-the need for constant testing, programming in pairs, inviting customer input, and the communal ownership of code-resonate with developers everywhere. Although many developers feel that Xp is rooted in commonsense, its vastly different approach can bring challenges, frustrations, and constant demands on your patience. Unless you've got unlimited time (and who does these days), you can't always stop to thumb through hundreds of pages to find the piece of information you need. The Extreme Programming Pocket Guide is the answer. Concise and easy to use, this handy pocket guide to Xp is a must-have quick reference for anyone implementing a test-driven development environment. The Extreme Programming Pocket Guide covers Xp assumptions, principles, events, artifacts, roles, and resources, and more. It concisely explains the relationships between the Xp practices. If you want to adopt Xp in stages, the Extreme Programming Pocket Guide will help you choose what to apply and when. You'll be surprised at how much practical information is crammed into this slim volume. O'Reilly's Pocket Guides have become a favorite among developers everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and need to get to a solution quickly, the new Extreme Programming Pocket Guide is the book you'll want to have beside your keyboard.

One of the least discussed and most challenging roles in the Scrum Agile Methodology is that of Product Owner. Quite often Product Owners are selected from the ranks of Product Managers or Business Analysts and simply "thrown" into the role. While these backgrounds can lead to successful product ownership, often there are fundamental understanding and large skills gaps that need to be crossed in order to be truly successful. This book takes a unique look at the role of Scrum Product Owner with a focus on how the role needs to interact with their Scrum team first--thus the "inside out". We review all of the nuance and requisite habits that allow the Scrum Product Owner to drive their teams towards creating high quality products that provide great customer value.