Writing this book has been an exciting journey that brought several incredible people into my life. I want to thank the entire team who helped with the book’s structure, content, and presentation. First, thank you to Ahmed Sidky for your superb ideas on how to organize the book and for the superb content you provided. Your insights on agile adoption are groundbreaking, and I am honored to work with you. You are a great partner.

I also want to thank Michael Stephens of Manning for spending weeks working with me to convert a raw idea into a real book. Your guidance and feedback had a huge impact on the final product.

We also had a first-class review team for this book. Craig Smith provided solid technical proofreading and helped us enrich the content for different perspectives. Nermina Miller was the main editor and provided great guidance for connecting with the reader. You are the best, Nermina!

The final edit team also put the book through several reviews to improve continuity, wording, grammar, and flow. Tiffany Taylor, Linda Recktenwald, and Katie Tennant may need a vacation after correcting all of our typos. Director of Production, Mary Piergies, did an excellent job of coordinating all of our work and getting the book into print.

And of course, thank you to Publisher Marjan Bace for taking on this book and sticking with it as it went down various paths and side roads on the way to final copy.

I would also like to thank all of the people who have shaped my ideas about software development throughout my career. Joe Woodmancy, thank you for my first commercial software job. You were a great mentor and provided sound guidance on application development. Jim Highsmith, you have influenced me more than any other person. The first class I took from you opened my eyes and allowed me to start enjoying software projects again. Thank you for the great training and inspiration you have provided to me. Mary Poppendieck, thank you for providing the foreword and for pioneering new discoveries and insights in the agile community. I am always learning something new from your work.

Thank you also to all the reviewers who took time out of their busy schedules to read our manuscript in different stages during its development. Your feedback was invaluable. Thanks to John C. Tyler, Robi Sen, Randy Miller, Andrew Siemer, Tariq Ahmed, Bernard Farrell, Bruno Lowagie, Carlo Bottiglieri, Paul King, Mike Tian-Jian Jiang, Federico Tomassetti, Robert Dempsey, Patrick Debois, Doug Warren, Horaci Mcias, Daniel Alford, Amr Elssamadisy, Dave Corun, Bas Vodde, Vincent Yin, Valentin Crettaz, Marco Ughetti, Darren Neimke, Hannu Terävä, Eric Raymond, Jason Kolter, Christopher Haupt, Robert Hanson, Dusty Jewett, and Christian Siegers.

Lastly, I thank my family. Thanks to my parents, Darrell and Eva, for providing unconditional support for whatever endeavor I have pursued. Thanks to my wife, Peggy, who continued to provide support even after we discovered what it really means to write a book. And finally, a thank you to my daughter, Lauren, for listening to me go on and on about agile for years. Although only 10 years old, Lauren now has the skills necessary to lead any company in its move to agile.

Greg Smith

First and foremost, I am grateful and thankful to Allah, who blessed me with guidance, health, family, and friends who supported me and helped me through the writing of this book. I am especially forever grateful to my sisters and beloved parents, Samy and Hoda, who supported me and encouraged me through every step of my life to reach where I am today. I am very fortunate to have been blessed with an amazing and supportive wife, Noura, who has felt both the pain and joy of this book. Thank you, Noura, for your love and enthusiasm, and I hope you are ready for my next book.

This book could not have happened without the hard work and dedication of my dear friend and coauthor Greg Smith. I really enjoyed working with him and thank him for his patience and perseverance.

Ahmed Sidky