Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble & Gene Kim

What it is about:

A data driven, rigorous analysis of performance of R&D organizations, free from religious pronouncements so frequent in the agile methodologies discussions, the authors find the real indicators, drivers and measurements that identify high performance organizations and point to the practices that underlie them, placing the responsibility right at the feet of how leadership behaves, as, in my experience, it is due.

Why it changed my thinking

It is really hard to cut through the fog of evangelists of the different methodologies. The authors manage to take a fresh look starting from extensive data research and arrive to very robust insights that are both rigorous and readily applicable. Their identification of the key measurements to pay attention to:

• Lead time for changes

• Deployment Frequency

• Mean-Time to Restore

• Change Fail Percentage

Are solidly backed by their research and they also resonate deeply with me, coming from a Systems Performance Model as in my recent attempt at these topics in The Drunk, their keys and a lamp post

Where to get it

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