Some of these are brands that have come from nowhere and created new categories, some have challenged the hegemony of long-standing leaders, and some are decades-old brands which have continuously reinvented themselves to stay on top.Drawing from her rich experience with brands in India, Anisha Motwani has created a powerful package of inspiration and methodology. With a Foreword by insights specialist Santosh Desai and an Afterword by innovation specialist Ranjan Malik, Storm the Norm will leave you altered. This book is replete with crucial untold secrets of businesses that made all the difference.

    Plenty of books describe what agile development is or why it helps software projects succeed, but very few combine information for developers, managers, testers, and customers into a single package that they can apply directly. This book provides no-nonsense advice on agile planning, development, delivery, and management taken from the authors' many years of experience with Extreme Programming (XP). You get a gestalt view of the agile development process, including comprehensive guidance for non-technical readers and hands-on technical practices for developers and testers. The Art of Agile Development gives you clear answers to questions such as:How can we adopt agile development? Do we really need to pair program? What metrics should we report? What if I can't get my customer to participate? How much documentation should we write? When do we design and architect? As a non-developer, how should I work with my agile team? Where is my product roadmap? How does QA fit in? The book teaches you how to adopt XP practices, describes each practice in detail, then discusses principles that will allow you to modify XP and create your own agile method. In particular, this book tackles the difficult aspects of agile development: the need for cooperation and trust among team members. Whether you're currently part of an agile team, working with an agile team, or interested in agile development, this book provides the practical tips you need to start practicing agile development. As your experience grows, the book will grow with you, providing exercises and information that will teach you first to understand the rules of agile development, break them, and ultimately abandon rules altogether as you master the art of agile development. "Jim Shore and Shane Warden expertly explain the practices and benefits of Extreme Programming. They offer advice from their real-world experiences in leading teams. They answer questions about the practices and show contraindications - ways that a practice may be mis-applied. They offer alternatives you can try if there are impediments to applying a practice, such as the lack of an on-site customer. --Ken Pugh, Author of Jolt Award Winner, Prefactoring "I will leave a copy of this book with every team I visit." --Brian Marick, Exampler Consulting

    SAFe addresses this primary goal, and offers these further benefits: reduced time-to-market, improved quality, stronger alignment across geographically distributed multi-disciplinary teams, and collaboration across teams to deliver meaningful value to customers with reduced cycle time." --Sundaresan Jagadeesan, SW CoE Program Director, Philips To succeed in today's adapt-or-die marketplace, businesses must be able to rapidly change the way they create and deliver value to their customers. Hundreds of the world's most successful companies-including Intel, Capital One, AstraZeneca, Cisco, and Philips-have turned to the Scaled Agile Framework(R) (SAFe(R)) to achieve agility at scale and maintain a competitive edge. SAFe(R) 4.5 Distilled: Applying the Scaled Agile Framework(R) for Lean Enterprises explains how adopting SAFe can quickly improve time to market and increase productivity, quality, and employee engagement. In this book, you will Understand the business case for SAFe: its benefits, the problems it solves, and how to apply it Get an overview of SAFe across all parts of the business: team, program, value stream, and portfolio Learn why SAFe works: the power of SAFe's Lean-Agile mindset, values, and principles Discover how systems thinking, Agile development, and Lean product development form the underlying basis for SAFe Learn how to become a Lean-Agile leader and effectively drive an enterprise-wide transformation Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

    Even in this nondescript settlement, people receive money via mobile transfer from family members working in distant cities. There are computer training centres offering diploma courses in Bhojpuri, Hindi and English. Here is an example of India's numerous remote towns that have skipped the stage of basic learning and landed straight into digital literacy as they strive to keep up with the times.In his last book, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, writing with Srijan Pal Singh, draws upon examples ranging from entrepreneurship in places like Badshahpur to a sophisticated missile programme like Agni to show how it can be 'Advantage India' in the final lap of the journey to 2020--the landmark year by which he had envisioned the country could transform into an economic power. How can the new initiatives--such as Make in India, Swachh Bharat, smart cities and skill development for the youth--be used to unleash the country's vast potential?Advantage India offers the answer--a movement driven by every home and school to educate the new generation and give a fresh meaning to citizenship.

    Whether you agree or disagree with him, and you're likely to do both, the essays in this book will always give you something worth thinking about.Mike Cohn, author of Succeeding with Agile: Software Development using ScrumTobias Mayer’s signature move is to pick up a stone and throw it through our glass house, smashing our old paradigms and causing us, after some pain and turmoil, to say, “OK, my comfortable way doesn’t work anymore. Now what?”Lyssa Adkins, author of Coaching Agile TeamsTobias Mayer has a really interesting mind: wide, deep, imaginative, and quirky. I value the quirky most because it's unpredictable. But in hindsight his jumps reveal themselves as the result of intelligence and rigor. What's more, he gets those jumps gracefully down on paper so that we can all participate.Lee Devin, author of Artrful Making and The Soul of DesignTobias Mayer is known in the agile community as a brilliant and evangelical orator, an innovative trainer and an extraordinary trouble maker. You could call him the Hunter S. Thompson of the software arena, and no one who knows him would laugh. This book is a collection of essays drawn from his writing over the past seven years on the blogs Agile Thinking and Agile Anarchy, missives from the front lines of agile practice that represent the next generation of thinking on conventional agile topics like self-organization, technical debt and estimation–and utterly original writing on new topics like organizational anarchy, corporate oppression, the effect of testosterone on business practices, and artisanal product development.Moving beyond the mere how-to, this is a book to excite the emotions and the intellect in those of us who have chosen the path of scrum to guide us in our work lives. Not since Paul Graham’s Hackers and Painters has the discussion of software development been elevated to this level of world-view-changing discourse. In Tobias Mayer, technology has an exciting new voice to lead us into the brave new world of agile practice.

    Former Pixar and The Simpsons Animator and Story Artist Matthew Luhn translates his two and half decades of storytelling techniques and concepts to the CEOs, advertisers, marketers, and creatives in the business world and beyond. A combination of Luhn’s personal stories and storytelling insights, The Best Story Wins retells the “Hero’s Journey” story building methods through the lens of the Pixar films to help business minds embrace the power of storytelling for themselves!

     Remember what coaching's really about. It's about looking for ways to touch the soul, and having someone's life change. Coaching simply can't be sold like other things are sold. And that turns out to be good news. Once you begin practicing true connection, you become successful. In 37 Ways to BOOST Your Coaching Practice, Steve Chandler shows just what steps to take - and the 17 lies to avoid - to give your prospective clients a powerful experience of the work you do. Learn to fill your practice by moving beyond coaching-as-a-concept. Creating clients happens one coaching conversation at a time, one true connection at a time.

    An improvised game of cricket was often the circuit-breaker Harry and his team needed after the tension of operations. He began a tradition of organising matches wherever he was sent, whether it was in the mountains of East Timor with a fugitive rebel leader, or on the dusty streets of Baghdad, or in exposed Forward Operating Bases in the hills of Afghanistan. Soldiers, locals and even visiting politicians played in these spontaneous yet often bridge-building games.As part of the tradition, Harry also started to take a cricket bat with him on operational tours, eleven of them in total. They'd often go outside the wire with him and end up signed by those he met or fought alongside. These eleven bats form the basis for Harry's extraordinary memoir. It's a book about combat, and what it takes to serve in one of the world's most elite formations. It's a book about the toll that war takes on soldiers and their loved ones. And it's a book about the healing power of cricket, and how a game can break down borders in even the most desperate of circumstances.

    This practical book demonstrates how entire organizations—from product managers and engineers to marketers and executives—can put Agile to work. Author Matt LeMay explains Agile in clear, jargon-free terms and provides concrete and actionable steps to help any team put its values and principles into practice. Examples from a wide variety of organizations, including small nonprofits and global financial enterprises, bring to life the on-the-ground realities of Agile across industries and functions. Understand exactly what Agile is and why it matters Use Agile to address your organization’s specific needs and goals Take customer centricity from theory into practice Stop wasting time in "report and critique" meetings and start making better decisions Create a harmonious cycle of learning, collaborating, and delivering Learn from Agile experts at companies like IBM, Spotify, and Coca-Cola

    Everything you need to be fully prepared to take the PRINCE2Foundation and Practitioner examAs an internationally recognized certification which focuses onthe Foundation and Practitioner levels along with being recommendedby the Project Management Institute, the PRINCE2 accreditationgives a bolster to any resume.The author, David Hinde, has trained hundreds of individualsfrom many different backgrounds to prepare for the PRINCE2 exams.The book provides explanations of all parts of the PRINCE2approach, lots of practical examples, and a whole range of mockexamination questions to test your knowledge.Explains all the PRINCE2 themes, processes, principles, rolesand management products for the very latest version of PRINCE2(PRINCE2 2009 Edition)Features full coverage of all Foundation and Practitioner levelexam objectivesPresents real-world scenarios, showing how the method isused in business and the public sectorIncludes challenging review questions and electronic flashcardsto sharpen your knowledgeCovers tips and techniques for tackling the PRINCE2accreditation examinations and shows you how and where to take theexamsIncorporates over 300 sample Foundation-level and over 100sample Practitioner-level questions, with answers and fullexplanationsContains a glossary of all PRINCE2 terminology and a quickreference to all the PRINCE2 management productsGives a web link to a set of on-line tools with more bonusexamsPRINCE2 Study Guide covers all the necessary topics youneed to know in order to confidently take the PRINCE2 Foundationand Practitioner exams.

    From difficult employees to demanding bosses, you never know where your next problem is coming from. What you do know is that you'll be expected to solve that problem--and solve it quickly and effectively.The New Manager's Handbook explains the rules of this new game, and gives you invaluable tips and pointers for teaming with your employees while inspiring them to breakthrough performance and results. Let the two dozen rules and guidelines in this quick-hitting manual show you the best ways to:DelegateReview performanceThink strategicallyLead great meetingsGive and get results-oriented feedbackProvide directionSpeak with powerCriticize with honesty and tactAsk the right questionsMotivate average performersPrepare for changeAs a new manager in today's no-room-for-error workplace, you will be challenged and tested every day. Unlike previous positions, however, your success will judged by the performance of others. Give yourself every opportunity to succeed, and learn how to win the respect of both your employees and your supervisors, with the time-tested and field-proven techniques in The New Manager's Handbook.

    Now, pioneering ThoughtWorks software engineering expert Sriram Narayan shows how to do just that. Drawing on 15+ years working with leaders in telecommunications, finance, energy, retail, and beyond, he introduces a comprehensive agile approach to "Business-IT Effectiveness" that is as practical as it is valuable. Narayan demonstrates how to integrate agility throughout sales, marketing, product development, engineering, and operations, helping each function deliver more value individually and through its linkages with the rest of the business. Addressing people, process, and technology, he guides you in improving both the dynamic and static aspects of organization design, addressing team structure, accountability structures, organizational norms and culture, knowledge management, and more. Using real examples, Narayan helps you evaluate and improve organization designs to enhance autonomy, mastery, and purpose. You'll learn how to eliminate the specific organizational silos that cause the most problems... improve communication in organizations that claim to be (but aren't really) non-hierarchical... optimize the way you build teams, design office space, and even choose tools. Simply put, Agile IT Organization Design will help you improve improving the performance of any software organization by propagating agile wherever it makes sense and offers value.

    Not a product of the formal education system, Dhirubhai was known for his astute business acumen and entrepreneurial prowess. No wonder Dhirubhai's business philosophy was quite different from his contemporaries. This book is not about Dhirubhai's life, or how Dhirubhai went about building his business empire. Dhirubhaism is an attempt to capture those unique insights that Dhirubhai shared with the author in several interations during their long association. The 15 Dhirubhaisms put together bring out the work philosophy of Dhirubhai and give us a glimpse into the remarkable thinking process and practices of one of India's most successful entrepreneurs.

    You've just been introduced to your new team as their Agile Coach. The team calls themselves The Dream Team. You are responsible for coming up with a plan to get the team back on track to achieve their project goals.Shortly after the initial product launch, The Dream Team was set a challenge by the Management Team to try out an alternative way of working called Agile. Eighteen months on and the team is working anything but like a dream. In fact, life's become a bit of a nightmare. Morale is low. Productivity has ground to a halt. Quality has become a taboo subject.Management believes the project has reached an impasse. They demand results and are prepared to outsource the remainder of the project. You have 5 days to figure out how to help the team move forward.Your fate and that of your team is entirely in your hands. What choices will you make? Choose badly and you’ll come to a sticky end. Choose wisely and you and your team stand a chance of living happily ever after. What will you choose to do?

    It's romantic and exciting to think of leadership as all inspiration, decisive action, and rich rewards, but leading requires taking risks that can jeopardize your career and your personal life. It requires putting yourself on the line, disrupting the status quo, and surfacing hidden conflict. And when people resist and push back, there's a strong temptation to play it safe. Those who choose to lead plunge in, take the risks, and sometimes get burned. But it doesn't have to be that way say renowned leadership experts Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. In Leadership on the Line, they show how it's possible to make a difference without getting "taken out" or pushed aside. They present everyday tools that give equal weight to the dangerous work of leading change and the critical importance of personal survival. Through vivid stories from all walks of life, the authors present straightforward strategies for navigating the perilous straits of leadership. Whether you're a parent or a politician, a CEO or a community activist, this practical book shows how you can exercise leadership and survive and thrive to enjoy the fruits of your labor.