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Relentless Commitment
Posted by Literary-Titan

Transform Procurement: The Value of E-Auctions is a practical, clear-eyed guide to building an e-auction program that actually works, not just as software adoption but as a cultural and strategic shift inside procurement. Why do so many e-auction programs fail before they even start?
A lot of procurement teams try to use e-auctions to replace the Request for Proposal (RFP) instead of viewing them as a negotiation tool. Viewing e-auctions as a quick RFP is such a small piece of what they can do that it’s like using your chainsaw only to cut down trees. Just as a chainsaw can also help you make firewood, cut up brush into manageable piles, or even carve a beautiful sculpture in the right hands, an e-auction can also reduce lead times, bring clarity to complicated bids with lots of options, speed up contracting, and improve scopes of work. E-auction programs fail because they don’t treat e-auctions as a tool in the toolbox and don’t articulate the value of that tool to stakeholders (both internal and external).
The book highlights internal resistance as a major barrier. What are the most common forms of pushback, and how can leaders build buy-in without forcing adoption?
The example I see most often is that a supply chain or procurement leader tells their team, “We’re going to start using e-auctions.” The team goes through training, they identify categories to start with, issue an RFP, and tell suppliers there might be an e-auction in the negotiation bid phase. Then the buyer receives a phone call, usually from the incumbent supplier, who tells the buyer that the supplier won’t participate in an e-auction, that this will destroy the supplier relationship, and the buyer just cares about price and not value if they move forward with an auction. This scares the buyer, who has been well-trained that procurement is about relationships (because it is!), and they go to their leader and ask for an exception. “I know we were planning to do an e-auction for this category, but I just don’t think we should anymore.” This is the critical moment for the leader. If they say, “You don’t have to do the e-auction,” that set of suppliers and that buyer will now never try one again. If the conversation gets to this point, I highly recommend that the leader have the buyer at least try the e-auction and have a conversation with the supplier about how the buyer considered full value in their e-auction setup.
The “e-auction exception” conversation is common because the buyer never understood the reasons the company was using e-auctions in the first place. Every procurement team member has to understand the why of e-auctions: considering true value (freight, tariffs, which options are in or out, communicating clear business opportunities to suppliers, etc.), and they also have to be ready with their answer to the suppliers who make that phone call. Supplier benefits to e-auction are transparency of where they are in the market, clarity of scope, and speed to a decision. When an e-auction ends, a supplier should know if they need to start prepping their team for the business or if they should spend their resources on other opportunities. A supplier who immediately pushes back against an auction without figuring out if the buyer is running it well may not be the supplier partner the buyer thought they were. An e-auction program tends to expose poor supplier relationships because those relationships can’t survive when the suppliers have to compete on a level playing field.
As Simon Sinek always says, the answer to building buy-in without forcing adoption is to “Start With Why” and help buyers and suppliers alike understand the value of the e-auction tool.
You spend a lot of time on supplier perception and trust. What do suppliers get wrong about e-auctions? What do buyers get wrong?
Suppliers tend to fear that their full value proposition isn’t being considered in an e-auction. This is part of why I insist on running an RFP ahead of the e-auction in most cases, because it allows the buyer to eliminate suppliers that do not meet quality, service, or specification standards. Only a short list of suppliers should be invited to the e-auction, just as only a short list of suppliers is invited to any procurement negotiation. In addition, if suppliers are proposing value-add opportunities (such as a faster schedule or extra support), the e-auction can help clarify if those extras are actually desirable to the buyer. If they are, the buyer should include them in the e-auction. If they aren’t, that may be an opportunity for both parties to save cost and effort by removing the extras from the bid.
Buyers often think that e-auctions are only useful for material bids with simple, clear specifications. Due to the proliferation of e-auctions in the early 2000s, the “simple” material bids, like fasteners or MRO, can actually be the most difficult to run. Those suppliers are most wary of a “race to the bottom,” and it’s common for the buyer to forget service components like shipping, stocking vending machines, or helping consolidate similar part numbers. I will happily run an e-auction for a capital improvement project like a factory expansion or a utility line construction long before I will tackle MRO. I’ve run e-auctions for or with clients that include debt collection, temp labor markups, marketing, elevator maintenance, software implementation, and a number of other categories that are definitely not direct materials.
You open with your first failed auction. What did that experience teach you that success couldn’t have?
I learned that e-auctions were trickier than they first seemed. E-auctions are not just a matter of “publish this, and the market will bid,” they take diplomacy and finesse. They require supplier phone calls and assurances. E-auctions often require creative setups and a relentless commitment to integrity and fairness. I also learned that a failed e-auction is not necessarily a failure for the buyer. If suppliers are truly putting their best foot forward in the RFP, then they will not reduce their price in the e-auction, and the auction was a quick confirmation that the buyer is paying market price (or getting market lead time, or whatever number is in the bid). An e-auction reduction of zero means the awarded supplier has a clear understanding of the scope, that the system has captured and confirmed their best bid, and that the supplier is treating the buyer like a true supplier partner.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
If you want to increase supplier transparency, reduce costs, and improve your supply chain maturity, an e-Auction program is the answer. E-Auctions have a bad reputation because there are thousands of ways to do them wrong and only a few ways to do them right.
This book is your guide to thoughtfully implementing or expanding your e-Auction program in a way that brings value to your business. It will guide you through the order to gather buy-in (executives are first, but who is second?), resources needed, major decision points, supplier management, responses to common supplier questions, process steps, and how to e-Auction traditionally “unauctionable” categories. In addition, this book includes guidelines on writing a good scope of work with detailed examples, process maps, and sample supplier communications to smooth your path through implementation.
Topics covered:
Benefits of e-Auctions for both buyer and supplier
Timeline a typical e-Auction adds to the process (spoiler alert: it’s a couple of days!)
Psychology of e-Auctions
Building an e-Auction team
Setting ceilings, bid decrements, reserves, overtime, and tie rules
Determining exemptions to e-Auction by category (e-Auctions are not just for materials!)
Measuring and reporting metrics
Training suppliers while keeping or strengthening relationships
Writing bid criteria and a solid scope of work
Calculating bid transformations and including supplier transition costs
Fitting hourly rates, project components, creative services, and staff augmentation bids into your e-Auction strategy
Running single supplier e-Auctions (when and why would you do so?)
You may have either had an experience with e-Auctions or heard about them previously, but this book is here to tell you all those rumors don’t have to be true. While e-Auctions were rapidly adopted and then abandoned in the early 2000s, we’ve learned a few things since then. They don’t have to be a race to the bottom or an opaque way to just squeeze margins from suppliers. They can instead be a fair approach to allowing suppliers to improve their value and partnership to the business and get immediate market feedback. If you have been tasked with finding better value and more cost savings with less time and fewer resources, this book is for you.
You’ll go from accepting your suppliers’ first price to negotiating value with every bid.
You’ll go from only negotiating a few of your bids to negotiating all of them.
You’ll dramatically expand your negotiation toolset.
Order copies for your team now.
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Posted in Interviews
Tags: Auctions & Small Business, author, book, book recommendations, book review, book reviews, book shelf, book trailer, bookblogger, books, books to read, booktube, booktuber, ebook, General Technology & Reference, goodreads, indie author, Janice Marquardt, kindle, kobo, literature, nonfiction, nook, novel, project management, read, reader, reading, self help, story, trailer, Transform Procurement, Transform Procurement The Value of E-Auctions, writer, writing
The MACH-10 PM: AI-Powered Product Management at Hypersonic Speed
Posted by Literary Titan

The MACH-10 PM lays out a clear promise. Product managers can use AI to move at “hypersonic speed” without losing judgment or empathy. The book walks through the whole product life cycle, from discovery and roadmapping to launches, growth, and leadership. Each chapter mixes stories from Qualcomm and GoPro with simple models, tool suggestions, and concrete prompts that show how to pull AI into real work rather than treat it like a toy. The main idea is simple. You stop trying to outwork the chaos and instead use AI to gain leverage, clarity, and what Riggs calls “speed with soul.”
The tone of the book is punchy and direct, almost like a seasoned PM talking across a whiteboard after a long sprint. Sentences stay short, the examples feel real, and the metaphors around “MACH-10” and “radar” stick in my head. I liked the way each chapter closes with questions and small exercises, because that nudged me to picture my own workflow instead of just skimming along. The visuals and little tables, like the “AI-powered discovery loop” and the roadmap comparisons, break up the text and make the main arguments easy to recall later.
I found a lot to like. I really appreciated the focus on AI as a multiplier, not a replacement. The sections on discovery, feedback synthesis, and roadmap scenarios felt grounded and very practical. The prompt examples are useful, and the insistence on pairing AI with ethics and judgment kept the whole thing from sliding into tool worship. I also liked the recurring message that PMs should measure themselves by impact, not output, and that the real job is to orchestrate people and systems, not just ship tickets.
I would recommend The MACH-10 PM to working product managers who already know the basics and want a push to rethink how they use AI day to day. I think it will be especially useful for people in mid-level roles who feel stuck in meetings and backlogs and want language and tools to reclaim time for strategy. Leaders of product teams could also use it as a shared playbook for running experiments and setting expectations around AI use. If you want a sharp, fast, and pretty human guide on how to work with AI without losing your soul, this book fits that slot nicely.
Pages: 270 | ASIN : B0FSP1Z1C4
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Posted in Book Reviews, Five Stars
Tags: author, book, book recommendations, book review, Book Reviews, book shelf, bookblogger, books, books to read, business, Business Software, ebook, goodreads, indie author, Jason Riggs, kindle, kobo, leadership, literature, management, nonfiction, nook, novel, project management, read, reader, reading, story, The MACH-10 PM, writer, writing
Navigating What’s Ahead
Posted by Literary-Titan

The Coming Disruption provides readers with the tools needed to survive the coming changes associated with Artificial Intelligence in the workplace. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Because too many people are being told half the story about what’s coming. Most conversations about AI focus on tools, trends, or fear — not on how work, organizations, and leadership are actually changing right now.
I wrote The Coming Disruption because this shift isn’t theoretical. It’s already reshaping who wins, who struggles, and who gets left behind in the workplace. Organizations that don’t adapt quickly won’t slowly decline — they’ll fall behind all at once. I wanted to give leaders and workers a clear, honest framework for navigating what’s ahead, without hype and without sugarcoating the consequences of inaction.
I also wrote this book in honor of my father. He believed deeply in hard work, responsibility, and adapting to change rather than resisting it. This book reflects those values — and my hope is that it helps people face what’s coming with clarity, courage, and agency, just as he taught me to do.
Can you share a little about the research behind The Coming Disruption?
The research behind this book isn’t academic; it’s operational.
It’s based on decades of building and scaling technology companies, leading through rapid growth, market disruption, and crisis, and watching firsthand how organizations behave when pressure increases.
I also studied historical inflection points – from the Industrial Revolution to the rise of digital platforms, to understand how productivity shocks change labor, management, and power structures. The patterns are remarkably consistent: technology doesn’t eliminate work, it redefines value. AI simply accelerates that process faster than anything we’ve seen before.
The book combines real-world experience, economic data, and pattern recognition, not speculation.
Did you learn anything while writing this book that surprised you?
What surprised me most was how fast the gap is widening.
I expected AI to create advantages for early adopters. What I didn’t expect was how quickly organizations that move first begin to outpace everyone else, not incrementally, but dramatically in speed, output, and decision-making.
I also came to appreciate just how much of today’s work exists to manage friction, not create value. AI exposes that immediately. Writing this book made it clear that the disruption isn’t just technological, it’s cultural and structural.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your book?
That they still have agency, but not unlimited time.
This book isn’t meant to scare people. It’s meant to wake them up. The coming disruption will reward those who adapt early, learn continuously, and focus on producing real value. It will punish hesitation, denial, and comfort with outdated roles.
If readers finish the book understanding that this moment requires action — not someday, but now — then it’s done its job.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | YouTube | Website | Amazon
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Posted in Interviews
Tags: ai, AI & Semantics, author, book, book recommendations, book review, Book Reviews, book shelf, bookblogger, books, books to read, ebook, Fred Voccola, goodreads, indie author, it, IT Project Management, kindle, kobo, literature, nonfiction, nook, novel, project management, read, reader, reading, self help, Software Project Management, story, tech, The Coming Disruption: How AI First Will Force Organizations to Change Everything or Face Destruction, writer, writing
The Coming Disruption: How AI First Will Force Organizations to Change Everything or Face Destruction
Posted by Literary Titan

The Coming Disruption is a blunt, high-energy warning shot aimed at anyone working inside an organization that hopes to survive the AI era. Author Fred Voccola lays out a simple message. AI is not a future trend. AI is a meteor already hitting the atmosphere, and every business, institution, and worker must adapt fast or get wiped out. He explains how AI multiplies productivity at a pace that makes earlier revolutions look sleepy, and he pushes the idea that becoming “AI First” means rebuilding the entire structure of an organization from top to bottom. The book blends history, economic analysis, and practical guidance, and it uses a vivid, almost urgent storytelling style to keep you moving through concepts that could reshape every part of modern work.
Voccola writes with a mix of confidence and impatience. Sometimes I nodded because the urgency made sense. Other times, I felt a little overwhelmed because the pace is relentless. Still, his arguments are sound. The idea that AI requires zero infrastructure change right now, and that the only barrier is leadership willingness, really resonated with me. I liked how he compared past transformations to the present because it made the speed of what’s coming feel real. I occasionally wished he explored a few examples more deeply.
What I liked most was his emphasis on internal AI. Not the headline-grabbing model wars. Not AGI speculation. The boring stuff inside every company that nobody glamorizes. I appreciated that focus. It made the book feel grounded. I kept thinking about how many organizations cling to outdated structures because they’re afraid to rip up the old playbook. His frustration with bureaucracy is loud and clear, and I found myself agreeing more often than not. His call to eliminate the “organizational deep state” is sharp, but it definitely made me think about how much waste we accept as normal. The book made me look at leadership, communication, and speed through a different lens.
I’d recommend The Coming Disruption to executives, founders, managers, and anyone who feels responsible for guiding others through change. It’s also a useful read for students and curious workers who want to understand the forces reshaping their careers. If you want a wake-up call that pushes you to think bigger, move faster, and challenge the comfort of slow adaptation, this book delivers.
Pages: 295 | ASIN : B0G2CNYPN6
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Posted in Book Reviews, Five Stars
Tags: ai, AI & Semantics, author, book, book recommendations, book review, Book Reviews, book shelf, bookblogger, books, books to read, ebook, Fred Voccola, goodreads, indie author, IT Project Management, kindle, kobo, literature, nonfiction, nook, novel, project management, read, reader, reading, self help, software, Software Project Management, story, The Coming Disruption: How AI First Will Force Organizations to Change Everything or Face Destruction, writer, writing
Be Recognized: The AI Authority Engine for Experts Who Want to Be Known, Be Profitable, and Be Published
Posted by Literary Titan

Be Recognized: The AI Authority Engine for Experts Who Want to Be Known, Be Profitable, and Be Published is a fast and bold guide that lays out a clear path for experts who want to build authority, grow a business, and embrace AI instead of fearing it. The authors walk through the changing landscape of visibility, the rise of AI content systems, and the steps entrepreneurs can take to position themselves as leaders. They explain why a book becomes the defining asset of your brand and how AI tools can turn that book into the engine that powers visibility, sales, and long-term authority. The chapters move from mindset to practical frameworks to future strategy, and the message stays consistent. If you want to be seen, you must publish, position yourself, and build systems that keep working even when you’re offline.
The writing is direct and friendly, and at times it feels like the authors are sitting across from you, reminding you to stop hiding and start owning your voice. I liked how many of the ideas blend personal stories with straightforward instruction. The concept that visibility is now the real currency really resonated with me. The book makes that point over and over again. The warnings about staying invisible stung me a little because they rang true to me. The energy of the writing kept pulling me forward, with short lines and a clear push to take action, not just learn.
What surprised me most was how emotional some of it felt. The authors challenge you to look at your habits, your excuses, and your fears about being seen. I appreciated how they fold AI into the story without making it cold or mechanical. Instead of painting AI as some giant force, they describe it as a partner that reinforces the voice you already have. I laughed a few times at the casual jokes and real-life examples because they made the ideas easier to absorb. The book doesn’t pretend the world hasn’t changed. It just says, “Here’s how you keep up and stay ahead.” That honesty gave the whole thing a stronger punch.
I walked away thinking this book would be great for any entrepreneur, consultant, coach, or leader who knows they have something meaningful to say but hasn’t put their message into the world in a strong way. It’s especially good for people who feel overwhelmed by AI or by the constant pressure to create content. The tone makes the process feel doable. The steps feel practical. And the push to publish a book as a core authority move really stands out. If you want a clear path to getting noticed and building a smarter business, this book is a solid choice.
Pages: 234 | ASIN : B0FS2C5MFH
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Posted in Book Reviews, Five Stars
Tags: Artificial Intelligence & Semantics, author, Be Recognized, book, book recommendations, book review, Book Reviews, book shelf, bookblogger, books, books to read, business, ebook, entrepreneurs, goodreads, indie author, Jenn Foster, kindle, kobo, literature, Market Reasearch, Melanie Johnson, nonfiction, nook, novel, project management, read, reader, reading, story, Women & Business, writer, writing
Swap
Posted by Literary Titan

In SWAP: Marketing without Money, Therese Tarlinton shares ways of growing your brand and marketing your products in the most professional manner. The author, having a background in marketing, understands the vital areas to cover that will assist the reader. Therese Tarlinton gets the reader to fully comprehend the technical terms by using familiar words and phrases that the average person can identify with. This informative book caters to readers of all levels and is especially helpful to beginners in entrepreneurship and marketing.
The author starts the book by discussing partnerships in marketing. In the first chapter, Tarlinton shares her journey when she began marketing in the 1990s, how she made a successful career in marketing with huge brands, and the different marketing styles and collaborations she used. Tarlinton goes out of her way to share the most impactful experiences in her career and how she has fared over the years. When narrating, she does not leave out any essential details. Instead, she tells it all and tells it in depth. While reading about partnership marketing, you get inspiration as a small business owner as the content the author writes about is applicable.
One of the well-written topics was on the different types of partnerships. I appreciate how the author defined and gave the differences between partnerships and influencer marketing, given how popular the latter has become. The discussions on this subject display another strength in Therese Tarlinton’s writing; her knack for solutions to recurrent branding and marketing affairs. The author gives practical solutions and engages the reader through tables and symbolic questions. Her style of interacting with her readers makes SWAP: Marketing without Money an essential read.
The arrangement of information is flawless. The writing is in prose, with points given in bullet form and others in numbered lists. I like the inclusion of famous quotes from renowned entrepreneurs and moguls in some chapters, as it was refreshing for the reader to start with words of wisdom. Therese Tarlinton mentally prepares the reader for the topic to be discussed before delving deeper into the subject matter. She does this by starting off every chapter lightly, then getting into technical topics where everything is explained to the reader.
This book is the perfect read for individuals looking for light reads that cover everything to do with marketing, branding, and selling yourself and your products. By the end of the reading, you realize that everything is possible if you have the right mindset. You do not need a big budget to become a massive brand; start small with the little resources, and make use of the tips shared by the author, and your business will flourish.
Pages: 170 | ASIN : B09RGSW7V8
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Posted in Book Reviews, Five Stars
Tags: author, book, book recommendations, book review, book reviews, book shelf, bookblogger, books, books to read, ebook, entrepreneur, goodreads, indie author, kindle, kobo, leaderership, literature, management, marketing, motivational, nook, novel, project management, read, reader, reading, small business, story, Swap, Therese Tarlinton, writer, writing
Enterprise Agility
Posted by Literary Titan
Sunil Mundra’s Enterprise Agility was written for people in the technology field or executives who want to grow their business and enterprises fast. Sunil Mundra focuses on subjects that would help any enterprise that yearns to expand and swiftly adapt to change. The author’s tone is professional and gives the reader an insight into how to manage an enterprise. His style of explaining is praiseworthy as the author uses easily comprehensible terms. Sunil Mundra selected crucial topics in the book, concentrating on specific areas when expounding on a topic. Through the text, you can tell that the author is an expert in this field and understands both the basics and technical sections when talking about enterprise agility.
Any company that gets into business aims to expand after a while. In his book, Sunil Mundra lists several reasons why companies and organizations fail to grow as expected, and offers suggestions on how to improve the growth rate of a business. Chapter two of the book carries some of the heaviest thoughts in Enterprise Agility. The author writes on everything from values and principles of agile, to the characteristics of enterprises with high agility. Some of the important components of agility that are discussed in the book include responsiveness, versatility, flexibility, resilience, innovativeness, and adaptability. The author gives practical examples that readers can relate to, which I felt improved my understanding.
Besides agility, one can also read Enterprise Agility as a leadership book. The author shares the qualities of good leadership and gives examples of how leaders can create a friendly environment that involves every stakeholder in the enterprise. Enterprise Agility is a great book for chief executives and everyone in management or parties that want to get the highest seat at the table. One of the many things I learned from the book is that people with an agility-oriented mindset willingly share knowledge with others and do not treat knowledge as a source of power.
Reading this book will open your mind and enlighten you on issues that you had perhaps ignored. The author knows how to deliver his points well. After reading this book, the reader will learn how to focus on the areas to improve, adapting to changes, and how to use the best techniques to achieve the most in whatever one does. Sunil Mundra has the best words for you if you want to enhance enterprise agility. All the valuable lessons are in the book. Change begins from within and by progressing in one’s area of expertise. I recommend this book to readers that have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to build their agile mindset.
Pages: 492 | ASIN: B0788T1PSN
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Posted in Book Reviews, Five Stars
Tags: author, book, book review, bookblogger, business, change, computer, ebook, education, enterprise, Enterprise Agility, entrepreneur, goodreads, it, kindle, kobo, literature, nonfiction, nook, project management, read, reader, reading, self help, story, Sunil Mundra, writer, writing
That Fantastic Agile Transformation Experience
Posted by Literary Titan
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions tackles project management in an approachable way that I found to be highly enlightening. How has your experience in project management helped you write this book?
I am thankful for all of the disruptors, innovators, and visionaries who contributed to the colorful heritage of agile and Scrum. In particular, I thank Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka. Scrum was modeled after their groundbreaking paper, “The New New Product Development Game,” published in the Harvard Business Review in 1986. My book was informed by their article and 115 additional sources—listed in the bibliography—along with my first-hand experience launching Scrum in organizations.
I’m the Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, an Inc. Verified Business, which helps our clients achieve their business needs through world-class project leadership. I had the privilege to work with a client in a division of a global entertainment business on their successful journey for improved responsiveness to changing business needs, faster delivery speed, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which made them even more competitive and fueled their growth. That fantastic agile transformation experience and result was the inspiration for my book. I thank that client.
I also helped diverse organizations achieve their business needs through project management related services prior to Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions. I’m a former vice president of a provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet including social networking and internet access. Before that, I worked in organizations with businesses ranging from advanced technology products and services to business services, retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, and entertainment. I have experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international customer markets, as well as international experience spanning 20 countries.
In addition to hands-on experience, a deep understanding of project management (project, program, portfolio, and PMO management—inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid frameworks), engagements with professional associations, involvement with global standards, knowledge of leading practices, and professional credentials also shaped what and how information was presented in the book. Some examples follow. I have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. I hold six certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL), and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB). And I’m proud to be a member of the Scrum Alliance, Project Management Institute (PMI), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Consumer Electronics Society, IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, IEEE Internet of Things Community, and the IEEE Consultants Network.
I owe a tremendous debt to the technical editors: Chris Hare and Colin Giffen. Each offered insights that greatly improved Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. I thank them for helping to make this book more clear, consistent, and valuable.
Agile Scrum is often used in technology projects, but do you think Agile Scrum can have a wider application?
Shifting customer needs are common in today’s marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage.
Agile and Scrum were once the sole domain of software development. However, the benefits and results have not gone unnoticed by others. Practices are being adopted by additional departments and industries. The State of Scrum Report: 2017 Edition revealed that 21% of Scrum projects are run by departments outside of Technology such as Marketing, Finance, and Sales. And a New York Timesarticle in 2016—”The New Workplace is Agile, and Nonstop. Can You Keep Up?”—noted agile’s use in diverse industries. Examples ranged from a museum in Sydney, Australia, to an automobile dealership in Maine. Agile/Scrum is being used broadly.
What is one common misconception you find people have about the Agile Scrum methodology?
There are different frameworks supporting the development and delivery of products and services, and most methodologies fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices (sometimes called waterfall) engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing Scrum—the most popular agile framework—to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
There’s a widely-held view that agile is new. But agile was used decades before it became well-known. A few examples follow. Software was developed in half-day iterations in 1958 for Project Mercury, the United States’ first human spaceflight program. Harlan Mills of IBM promoted in 1968 that “software development should be done incrementally, in stages with continuous user participation and replanning.” In 1980, Tom Gilb introduced the Evolutionary Delivery Model, an incremental alternative to traditional development.
While agile (which includes Scrum) is not new, many innovators and visionaries have advanced principles and practices over time. For those who would like to learn more, there’s a one-minute video—”Agile Has a Long and Colorful Heritage”—at https://vimeo.com/259429846.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I have two works in the pipeline. Currently, however, there is no detail on content or publication dates for future books.
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Deliver Products in Short Cycles with Rapid Adaptation to Change, Fast Time-to-Market, and Continuous Improvement―Which Supports Innovation and Drives Competitive Advantage
Shifting customer needs are common in today’s marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most methodologies fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
Agile Scrum is for those interested or involved in innovation, project management, product development, software development or technology management. It’s for those who have not yet used Scrum. It’s also for people already using Scrum, in roles such as Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Development Team members (business analysts, solution and system architects, designers, developers, testers, etc.), customers, end users, agile coaches, executives, managers, and other stakeholders. For those already using Scrum, this guide can serve as a reference on practices for consideration and potential adaptation.
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