Author: Paul E. McMahon
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 0132172755
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 565
Book Description
Many organizations that have improved process maturity through Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®) now also want greater agility. Conversely, many organizations that are succeeding with Agile methods now want the benefits of more mature processes. The solution is to integrate CMMI and Agile. Integrating CMMI® and Agile Development offers broad guidance for melding these process improvement methodologies. It presents six detailed case studies, along with essential real-world lessons, big-picture insights, and mistakes to avoid. Drawing on decades of process improvement experience, author Paul McMahon explains how combining an Agile approach with the CMMI process improvement framework is the fastest, most effective way to achieve your business objectives. He offers practical, proven techniques for CMMI and Agile integration, including new ways to extend Agile into system engineering and project management and to optimize performance by focusing on your organization’s unique, culture-related weaknesses.
Integrating CMMI and Agile Development
Author: Paul E. McMahon
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 0132172755
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 565
Book Description
Many organizations that have improved process maturity through Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®) now also want greater agility. Conversely, many organizations that are succeeding with Agile methods now want the benefits of more mature processes. The solution is to integrate CMMI and Agile. Integrating CMMI® and Agile Development offers broad guidance for melding these process improvement methodologies. It presents six detailed case studies, along with essential real-world lessons, big-picture insights, and mistakes to avoid. Drawing on decades of process improvement experience, author Paul McMahon explains how combining an Agile approach with the CMMI process improvement framework is the fastest, most effective way to achieve your business objectives. He offers practical, proven techniques for CMMI and Agile integration, including new ways to extend Agile into system engineering and project management and to optimize performance by focusing on your organization’s unique, culture-related weaknesses.
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 0132172755
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 565
Book Description
Many organizations that have improved process maturity through Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®) now also want greater agility. Conversely, many organizations that are succeeding with Agile methods now want the benefits of more mature processes. The solution is to integrate CMMI and Agile. Integrating CMMI® and Agile Development offers broad guidance for melding these process improvement methodologies. It presents six detailed case studies, along with essential real-world lessons, big-picture insights, and mistakes to avoid. Drawing on decades of process improvement experience, author Paul McMahon explains how combining an Agile approach with the CMMI process improvement framework is the fastest, most effective way to achieve your business objectives. He offers practical, proven techniques for CMMI and Agile integration, including new ways to extend Agile into system engineering and project management and to optimize performance by focusing on your organization’s unique, culture-related weaknesses.
Agile Metrics in Action
Author: Christopher Davis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1638350450
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Summary Agile Metrics in Action is a rich resource for agile teams that aim to use metrics to objectively measure performance. You'll learn how to gather data that really counts, along with how to effectively analyze and act upon the results. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Book The iterative nature of agile development is perfect for experience-based, continuous improvement. Tracking systems, test and build tools, source control, continuous integration, and other built-in parts of a project lifecycle throw off a wealth of data you can use to improve your products, processes, and teams. The question is, how to do it? Agile Metrics in Action teaches you how. This practical book is a rich resource for an agile team that aims to use metrics to objectively measure performance. You'll learn how to gather the data that really count, along with how to effectively analyze and act upon the results. Along the way, you'll discover techniques all team members can use for better individual accountability and team performance. Practices in this book will work with any development process or tool stack. For code-based examples, this book uses Groovy, Grails, and MongoDB. What's Inside Use the data you generate every day from CI and Scrum Improve communication, productivity, transparency, and morale Objectively measure performance Make metrics a natural byproduct of your development process About the Author Christopher Davis has been a software engineer and team leader for over 15 years. He has led numerous teams to successful delivery using agile methodologies. Table of Contents PART 1 MEASURING AGILE TEAMS Measuring agile performance Observing a live project PART 2 COLLECTING AND ANALYZING YOUR TEAM'S DATA Trends and data from project-tracking systems Trends and data from source control Trends and data from CI and deployment servers Data from your production systems PART 3 APPLYING METRICS TO YOUR TEAMS, PROCESSES, AND SOFTWARE Working with the data you're collecting: the sum of the parts Measuring the technical quality of your software Publishing metrics Measuring your team against the agile principles
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1638350450
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Summary Agile Metrics in Action is a rich resource for agile teams that aim to use metrics to objectively measure performance. You'll learn how to gather data that really counts, along with how to effectively analyze and act upon the results. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Book The iterative nature of agile development is perfect for experience-based, continuous improvement. Tracking systems, test and build tools, source control, continuous integration, and other built-in parts of a project lifecycle throw off a wealth of data you can use to improve your products, processes, and teams. The question is, how to do it? Agile Metrics in Action teaches you how. This practical book is a rich resource for an agile team that aims to use metrics to objectively measure performance. You'll learn how to gather the data that really count, along with how to effectively analyze and act upon the results. Along the way, you'll discover techniques all team members can use for better individual accountability and team performance. Practices in this book will work with any development process or tool stack. For code-based examples, this book uses Groovy, Grails, and MongoDB. What's Inside Use the data you generate every day from CI and Scrum Improve communication, productivity, transparency, and morale Objectively measure performance Make metrics a natural byproduct of your development process About the Author Christopher Davis has been a software engineer and team leader for over 15 years. He has led numerous teams to successful delivery using agile methodologies. Table of Contents PART 1 MEASURING AGILE TEAMS Measuring agile performance Observing a live project PART 2 COLLECTING AND ANALYZING YOUR TEAM'S DATA Trends and data from project-tracking systems Trends and data from source control Trends and data from CI and deployment servers Data from your production systems PART 3 APPLYING METRICS TO YOUR TEAMS, PROCESSES, AND SOFTWARE Working with the data you're collecting: the sum of the parts Measuring the technical quality of your software Publishing metrics Measuring your team against the agile principles
Great Big Agile
Author: Jeff Dalton
Publisher: Apress
ISBN: 1484242068
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 329
Book Description
Big Agile leaders need an empirical, "high-trust" model that provides guidance for scaling and sustaining agility and capability throughout a modern technology organization. This book presents the Agile Performance Holarchy (APH)—a "how-ability" model that provides agile leaders and teams with an operating system to build, evaluate, and sustain great agile habits and behaviors. The APH is an organizational operating system based on a set of interdependent, self-organizing circles, or holons, that reflect the empirical, object-oriented nature of agility. As more companies seek the benefits of Agile within and beyond IT, agile leaders need to build and sustain capability while scaling agility—no easy task—and they need to succeed without introducing unnecessary process and overhead. The APH is drawn from lessons learned while observing and assessing hundreds of agile companies and teams. It is not a process or a hierarchy, but a holarchy, a series of performance circles with embedded and interdependent holons that reflect the behaviors of high-performing agile organizations. Great Big Agile provides implementation guidance in the areas of leadership, values, teaming, visioning, governing, building, supporting, and engaging within an all-agile organization. What You’ll Learn Model the behaviors of a high-performance agile organizationBenefit from lessons learned by other organizations that have succeeded with Big AgileAssess your level of agility with the Agile Performance Holarchy Apply the APH model to your business Understand the APH performance circles, holons, objectives, and actions Obtain certification for your company, organization, or agency Who This Book Is For Professionals leading, or seeking to lead, an agile organization who wish to use an innovative model to raise their organization's agile performance from one level to the next, all the way to mastery
Publisher: Apress
ISBN: 1484242068
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 329
Book Description
Big Agile leaders need an empirical, "high-trust" model that provides guidance for scaling and sustaining agility and capability throughout a modern technology organization. This book presents the Agile Performance Holarchy (APH)—a "how-ability" model that provides agile leaders and teams with an operating system to build, evaluate, and sustain great agile habits and behaviors. The APH is an organizational operating system based on a set of interdependent, self-organizing circles, or holons, that reflect the empirical, object-oriented nature of agility. As more companies seek the benefits of Agile within and beyond IT, agile leaders need to build and sustain capability while scaling agility—no easy task—and they need to succeed without introducing unnecessary process and overhead. The APH is drawn from lessons learned while observing and assessing hundreds of agile companies and teams. It is not a process or a hierarchy, but a holarchy, a series of performance circles with embedded and interdependent holons that reflect the behaviors of high-performing agile organizations. Great Big Agile provides implementation guidance in the areas of leadership, values, teaming, visioning, governing, building, supporting, and engaging within an all-agile organization. What You’ll Learn Model the behaviors of a high-performance agile organizationBenefit from lessons learned by other organizations that have succeeded with Big AgileAssess your level of agility with the Agile Performance Holarchy Apply the APH model to your business Understand the APH performance circles, holons, objectives, and actions Obtain certification for your company, organization, or agency Who This Book Is For Professionals leading, or seeking to lead, an agile organization who wish to use an innovative model to raise their organization's agile performance from one level to the next, all the way to mastery
Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability
Author: Daniel S. Vacanti
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780986436338
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
"When will it be done?" That is probably the first question your customers ask you once you start working on something for them. Think about how many times you have been asked that question. How many times have you ever actually been right? We can debate all we want whether this is a fair question to ask given the tremendous amount of uncertainty in knowledge work, but the truth of the matter is that our customers are going to inquire about completion time whether we like it or not. Which means we need to come up with an accurate way to answer them. The problem is that the forecasting tools that we currently utilize have made us ill-equipped to provide accurate answers to reasonable customer questions. Until now. Topics Include Why managing for flow is the best strategy for predictability-including an introduction to Little's Law and its implications for flow. A definition of the basic metrics of flow and how to properly visualize those metrics in analytics like Cumulative Flow Diagrams and Scatterplots. Why your process policies are the potentially the biggest reason that you are unpredictable.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780986436338
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
"When will it be done?" That is probably the first question your customers ask you once you start working on something for them. Think about how many times you have been asked that question. How many times have you ever actually been right? We can debate all we want whether this is a fair question to ask given the tremendous amount of uncertainty in knowledge work, but the truth of the matter is that our customers are going to inquire about completion time whether we like it or not. Which means we need to come up with an accurate way to answer them. The problem is that the forecasting tools that we currently utilize have made us ill-equipped to provide accurate answers to reasonable customer questions. Until now. Topics Include Why managing for flow is the best strategy for predictability-including an introduction to Little's Law and its implications for flow. A definition of the basic metrics of flow and how to properly visualize those metrics in analytics like Cumulative Flow Diagrams and Scatterplots. Why your process policies are the potentially the biggest reason that you are unpredictable.
Enhancing Performance Of HR -Anagile Approach
Author: Parth Sarathi
Publisher: BFC Publications
ISBN: 9359924180
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 455
Book Description
The VUCA enviroinment is posing newer challenges in the way of optimizing Performance of Human Resource. Organizations have to be agile and an agile approach for managing performance is the most talked about approach in such an enviroinment . This book aims at deriving much of the benefits of agile way of managing performance, not confined to PMS. The issues have been identified and concretized, a beginning has been made to align the concepts, processes and systems to prepare a spring board for adopting agile approach in true sense. Responsiveness is the spirit behind such interventions, and the entire book is driven by this. The approach may not be very innovative, but definitely a synthesized content based on multidisciplinary approach for evolving a tailored approach is available. A formidable blend of theory and practice at one hand and content and process at the other, makes this book different from others. All the knowledge and experience of the author in designing and implementing PMS and allied performance enhancement interventions in a variety of organizations, getting the bouquets and brickbats for over 5 decades, compulsively inspired for writing this book. An outcome of basic strength in quantitative areas of Industrial Engineering and systems, immense studies and contribution to the field of HRM, HRD, and OD guided by deep insights in to Applied Behavioural Science, this book is expected to be a proud possession . In addition to emphasizing drive for excellence and responsiveness in developing a Performance management system , the issue of institutionalizing performance improvement interventions has been powerfully discussed with the help of real life examples. This book is going to give a big fillip to performance management efforts in turbulent times , and be a valuable resource to Managers, HR professionals, Management faculty , Consultants and students.
Publisher: BFC Publications
ISBN: 9359924180
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 455
Book Description
The VUCA enviroinment is posing newer challenges in the way of optimizing Performance of Human Resource. Organizations have to be agile and an agile approach for managing performance is the most talked about approach in such an enviroinment . This book aims at deriving much of the benefits of agile way of managing performance, not confined to PMS. The issues have been identified and concretized, a beginning has been made to align the concepts, processes and systems to prepare a spring board for adopting agile approach in true sense. Responsiveness is the spirit behind such interventions, and the entire book is driven by this. The approach may not be very innovative, but definitely a synthesized content based on multidisciplinary approach for evolving a tailored approach is available. A formidable blend of theory and practice at one hand and content and process at the other, makes this book different from others. All the knowledge and experience of the author in designing and implementing PMS and allied performance enhancement interventions in a variety of organizations, getting the bouquets and brickbats for over 5 decades, compulsively inspired for writing this book. An outcome of basic strength in quantitative areas of Industrial Engineering and systems, immense studies and contribution to the field of HRM, HRD, and OD guided by deep insights in to Applied Behavioural Science, this book is expected to be a proud possession . In addition to emphasizing drive for excellence and responsiveness in developing a Performance management system , the issue of institutionalizing performance improvement interventions has been powerfully discussed with the help of real life examples. This book is going to give a big fillip to performance management efforts in turbulent times , and be a valuable resource to Managers, HR professionals, Management faculty , Consultants and students.
Getting Results the Agile Way
Author: J. D. Meier
Publisher: Innovation Playhouse LLC
ISBN: 0984548203
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
A guide to the Agile Results system, a systematic way to achieve both short- and long-term results that can be applied to all aspects of life.
Publisher: Innovation Playhouse LLC
ISBN: 0984548203
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
A guide to the Agile Results system, a systematic way to achieve both short- and long-term results that can be applied to all aspects of life.
Lean but Agile
Author: William J. ROTHWELL
Publisher: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn
ISBN: 0814417779
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
As organizations strive to maximize efficiency to meet stringent budgets, a general ôdo more with lessö mandate is no longer sufficient. Managers and executives must evaluate every process and every role, and do away with assumptions about how work gets done and who does it. Lean but Agile presents a system for analyzing work and selecting the ideal combination of cost-effective resourcesùemployees, consultants, contractors, temporary workers, vendorsùto accomplish it. The book advocates changes in hiring, goal-setting, learning and development, and performance management, and discusses the introduction, implementation, and management of lean work and agile staffing methods. It also explores the fundamental role technology can play in the transformation. Packed with practical advice, examples, guides, worksheets, diagrams, and metrics, Lean but Agile will help leaders, managers, and human resource professionals optimize their workforces while still achieving superior results.
Publisher: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn
ISBN: 0814417779
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
As organizations strive to maximize efficiency to meet stringent budgets, a general ôdo more with lessö mandate is no longer sufficient. Managers and executives must evaluate every process and every role, and do away with assumptions about how work gets done and who does it. Lean but Agile presents a system for analyzing work and selecting the ideal combination of cost-effective resourcesùemployees, consultants, contractors, temporary workers, vendorsùto accomplish it. The book advocates changes in hiring, goal-setting, learning and development, and performance management, and discusses the introduction, implementation, and management of lean work and agile staffing methods. It also explores the fundamental role technology can play in the transformation. Packed with practical advice, examples, guides, worksheets, diagrams, and metrics, Lean but Agile will help leaders, managers, and human resource professionals optimize their workforces while still achieving superior results.
Agility Shift
Author: Pamela Meyer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351862405
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
As contrary as it sounds, "planning" -- as we traditionally understand the term--can be the worst thing a company can do. Consider that volatile weather events disrupt trusted supply chains, markets, and promised delivery schedules. Ever-shifting geo-political tensions, as well as internal political upheaval within U.S. and global governments, derail long-planned new ventures. Technology failures block opportunities. Competitors suddenly change their product or release date; your team cannot meet the pace of innovations in your market niche, leaving you sidelined. There are myriad ways in the current business environment for a company's well-considered business plans to go awry. Most business schools continue to prepare managers to be effective in stable and predictable environments, conditions that, if they ever existed at all, are long gone. The Agility Shift shows business leaders exactly how to make the radical mindset and strategy shift necessary to create an agile, entrepreneurial organization that can innovate and thrive in complex, ever-changing contexts. As author Pamela Meyer explains, there is much more involved than a reconfiguration of the org chart and job descriptions. It requires relinquishing the illusion of control at the very foundation of most management training and business practice. Despite most leaders' approaches, "Agility is not simply accelerated planning." Unlike many agility books on the market, The Agility Shift provides specific, actionable strategies and tactics for leaders at all levels of the organization to put into practice immediately to improve agility and achieve results.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351862405
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
As contrary as it sounds, "planning" -- as we traditionally understand the term--can be the worst thing a company can do. Consider that volatile weather events disrupt trusted supply chains, markets, and promised delivery schedules. Ever-shifting geo-political tensions, as well as internal political upheaval within U.S. and global governments, derail long-planned new ventures. Technology failures block opportunities. Competitors suddenly change their product or release date; your team cannot meet the pace of innovations in your market niche, leaving you sidelined. There are myriad ways in the current business environment for a company's well-considered business plans to go awry. Most business schools continue to prepare managers to be effective in stable and predictable environments, conditions that, if they ever existed at all, are long gone. The Agility Shift shows business leaders exactly how to make the radical mindset and strategy shift necessary to create an agile, entrepreneurial organization that can innovate and thrive in complex, ever-changing contexts. As author Pamela Meyer explains, there is much more involved than a reconfiguration of the org chart and job descriptions. It requires relinquishing the illusion of control at the very foundation of most management training and business practice. Despite most leaders' approaches, "Agility is not simply accelerated planning." Unlike many agility books on the market, The Agility Shift provides specific, actionable strategies and tactics for leaders at all levels of the organization to put into practice immediately to improve agility and achieve results.
Agile Kaizen
Author: Ángel Medinilla
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3642549918
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
Agile teams have been struggling with the concept of continuous improvement since the first Agile frameworks were developed, and still very little has been written about the practice of continuous improvement in Agile environments. Although team retrospectives have been prescribed and some practices have been introduced in order to implement and facilitate them, the truth is that most Agile teams are conducting dull retrospectives that end with a list of things that have been done wrong, just to repeat the same list two weeks later at the next meeting. Instead of listing hundreds of Japanese-labeled tools, this book gives you practical insights into how to spot improvement opportunities, how to plan for improvement and how to engage everyone in your company in the Kaizen process. In addition, it will also provide you with 27 proven practices and 12 bonus activities to introduce into your retrospectives in order to keep them fresh, creative and exciting, so you can promise a team that, in a year’s time, no two retrospectives will be alike. This book helps you as a manager, team leader, change agent or consultant in any type of organization to unleash the real power of Kaizen cultures – no matter what kind of organization, market, product, technology, vision, goal or size. It provides you with the background, tools and practical hints on how to engage your organization in a process of continuous quest for new and better ways of performing.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3642549918
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
Agile teams have been struggling with the concept of continuous improvement since the first Agile frameworks were developed, and still very little has been written about the practice of continuous improvement in Agile environments. Although team retrospectives have been prescribed and some practices have been introduced in order to implement and facilitate them, the truth is that most Agile teams are conducting dull retrospectives that end with a list of things that have been done wrong, just to repeat the same list two weeks later at the next meeting. Instead of listing hundreds of Japanese-labeled tools, this book gives you practical insights into how to spot improvement opportunities, how to plan for improvement and how to engage everyone in your company in the Kaizen process. In addition, it will also provide you with 27 proven practices and 12 bonus activities to introduce into your retrospectives in order to keep them fresh, creative and exciting, so you can promise a team that, in a year’s time, no two retrospectives will be alike. This book helps you as a manager, team leader, change agent or consultant in any type of organization to unleash the real power of Kaizen cultures – no matter what kind of organization, market, product, technology, vision, goal or size. It provides you with the background, tools and practical hints on how to engage your organization in a process of continuous quest for new and better ways of performing.
Agile Performance Improvement
Author: Robert Winter
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781484208946
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"1+1=3. That is the equation that summarizes the theme of this book. The book's message is to integrate the developmental principles of Agile with the result-focused approaches integral to performance consulting. Your outcomes in shaping human performance will be significant--and greater than if you only used one of these models. This is a book for anyone who seeks to work collaboratively with leaders to bring about continuously improving and sustainable organizational change." --Dana Gaines Robinson, coauthor of Performance Consulting Agile Performance Improvement demonstrates the mutual benefits that accrue to the worlds of performance consulting and agile software development when the values and principles of both are blended synergistically under the guidance of practitioners skilled in both. The agile performance improvement model blends the principles of human performance technology with the frameworks and practices of Agile. The result is an approach that maximizes the value of interactions among the consultant, the work team, and the customer. Unlike traditional end-to-end waterfall processes, agile performance improvement delivers value continuously and in small increments, relentlessly focusing on outcomes of value to the customer. Building on structures of Agile that are used in software development, such as Scrum, the agile performance improvement model considers the human component of holistic solutions in establishing a continuous stream of value. Bob Winter, a performance consultant, was the product owner for the corporate education scrum supporting an agile transition initiative for hundreds of engineering teams. From this cross-disciplinary experience, he discovered that the two cultures, two languages, and two methodologies of performance consulting and agile software development are--far from being incongruent, incompatible, or irrelevant to each other--in fact ideally suited to complement and support each other. Being agile improves the effectiveness of the performance consultant, and applying the lessons of human performance technology improves the effectiveness of software development teams. In Agile Performance Improvement, Winter teaches performance consultants how to apply agile principles, values, and methods usefully to the tasks of optimizing human performance in areas of practice not only adjoining but also well beyond the realm of software and IT engineering, such as corporate learning solutions, human resources systems, and non-software products. Conversely, he shows engineering teams immersed in an agile environment how to boost their performance using the principles and techniques taught and cultivated by performance consultants. The author, who has worked extensively on both sides of the traditional divide, recounts entertainingly but informatively how both sparks and fur can fly when geeks encounter people people.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781484208946
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"1+1=3. That is the equation that summarizes the theme of this book. The book's message is to integrate the developmental principles of Agile with the result-focused approaches integral to performance consulting. Your outcomes in shaping human performance will be significant--and greater than if you only used one of these models. This is a book for anyone who seeks to work collaboratively with leaders to bring about continuously improving and sustainable organizational change." --Dana Gaines Robinson, coauthor of Performance Consulting Agile Performance Improvement demonstrates the mutual benefits that accrue to the worlds of performance consulting and agile software development when the values and principles of both are blended synergistically under the guidance of practitioners skilled in both. The agile performance improvement model blends the principles of human performance technology with the frameworks and practices of Agile. The result is an approach that maximizes the value of interactions among the consultant, the work team, and the customer. Unlike traditional end-to-end waterfall processes, agile performance improvement delivers value continuously and in small increments, relentlessly focusing on outcomes of value to the customer. Building on structures of Agile that are used in software development, such as Scrum, the agile performance improvement model considers the human component of holistic solutions in establishing a continuous stream of value. Bob Winter, a performance consultant, was the product owner for the corporate education scrum supporting an agile transition initiative for hundreds of engineering teams. From this cross-disciplinary experience, he discovered that the two cultures, two languages, and two methodologies of performance consulting and agile software development are--far from being incongruent, incompatible, or irrelevant to each other--in fact ideally suited to complement and support each other. Being agile improves the effectiveness of the performance consultant, and applying the lessons of human performance technology improves the effectiveness of software development teams. In Agile Performance Improvement, Winter teaches performance consultants how to apply agile principles, values, and methods usefully to the tasks of optimizing human performance in areas of practice not only adjoining but also well beyond the realm of software and IT engineering, such as corporate learning solutions, human resources systems, and non-software products. Conversely, he shows engineering teams immersed in an agile environment how to boost their performance using the principles and techniques taught and cultivated by performance consultants. The author, who has worked extensively on both sides of the traditional divide, recounts entertainingly but informatively how both sparks and fur can fly when geeks encounter people people.