Lessons in Agile Management: On the Road to Kanban

David J. Anderson describes this collection as "The Missing Link in the Evolution of Kanban." Anderson developed the Kanban Method over years spent managing and coaching Agile development teams, at companies such as Sprint, Motorola and Microsoft, by integrating Lean thinking with Agile principles and practices. This compendium of anecdotes and epiphanies tells a very personal story as he shares his journey on the road to Kanban - now a popular method for improving predictability while managing change and risk in organizations worldwide.

This collection of over 150 articles compiled from the Agile Management blog and several other sources represents 12 years (1999-2011) of invaluable insights by David J. Anderson in managing software development. Each article has been carefully selected and grouped into one of 16 chapters on topics such as Leadership, Management, Peter Drucker, Theory of Constraints and Eli Goldratt, W. Edwards Deming, Human Resource Departments and Policies, Agile, Lean and Leading Change Initiatives. Each chapter is introduced with contemporary commentary explaining its relevance and contribution to both Agile and Kanban.

This book might have been titled, "The Very Best of Agile Management Blog" but that would do it an injustice. Each article has been lovingly reworked from the original to provide a coherent flowing story that introduces both the need for Kanban and how it emerged as a leading method for improving agility in knowledge work organizations. Many articles are enhanced with new observations and reflection on how the Agile community has progressed since original publication. In total there are around 20,000 words of current insights explaining why Kanban is necessary and what makes it an important innovation in the development of Agile methods.

"This is the book on leadership we've been waiting for." - Kurt Häusler

"David successfully blends the principles of flow, queues, theory of constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma to concoct a very powerful message that I have come to believe over the years: ‘You’ve got more capacity than you think!’” - Charan Atreya