My colleague James Governor has been talking about Progressive Delivery since helping coin the term in 2018. He joined forces with co-authors Kim Harrison, Heidi Waterhouse, and Adam Zimman to write a book designed to help technologists better understand this set of engineering disciplines.
Per the book:
At its core, Progressive Delivery exists to serve a fundamental purpose that can be distilled into a simple yet powerful statement: delivering what users need when they need it at the least cost and risk to everyone involved.
This is perhaps the manifesto of Progressive Delivery—not a description of its methods but a declaration of its ultimate goal. It captures the essence of what we’re trying to achieve when we implement these practices. By keeping this goal at the forefront of our thinking, we create a clear criterion against which all of our technical decisions, organizational structures, and delivery practices can be measured.
When we center our work on this purpose, we naturally align our teams, our technologies, and our processes toward creating value rather than just producing output. It transforms software delivery from the mechanical process of shipping features to a thoughtful practice of providing solutions that genuinely help people accomplish their goals.
– Progressive Delivery: Build the Right Thing for the Right People at the Right Time
Their book is now available for purchase.
I’ve read it, and it’s a genuinely enjoyable, thoughtful read.
- Give it a read if you want principled grounding in the practice of progressive delivery, with advice that isn’t tied to specific vendor technologies.
- Give it a read if you want in-depth case studies of companies that have implemented these practices.
- Give it a read if you’re a fan of diagrams. 🙂
- Give it a read if you enjoy evocative metaphors and strong writing.
In short, give it a read!
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