Acknowledgments
My first acknowledgment goes to a pair of intrepid programmers who joyously discovered (or rediscovered) the practices contained herein: Ward Cunningham and Kent Beck.
Next in line is Martin Fowler, without whose steadying hand, in those earliest of days, the Agile revolution would likely have been stillborn.
Ken Schwaber deserves a special mention for the indomitable energy he applied toward the promotion and adoption of Agile.
Mary Poppendieck also deserves special mention for the selfless and inexhaustible energy she put into the Agile movement and her shepherding of the Agile Alliance.
In my view, Ron Jeffries, through his talks, articles, blogs, and the persistent warmth of his character, acted as the conscience of the early Agile movement.
Mike Beedle fought the good fight for Agile but was senselessly murdered by a homeless person on the streets of Chicago.
The other original authors of the Agile Manifesto take a special place here:
Arie van Bennekum, Alistair Cockburn, James Grenning, Jim Highsmith, Andrew Hunt, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Steve Mellor, Jeff Sutherland, and Dave Thomas.
Jim Newkirk, my friend and business partner at the time, worked tirelessly in support of Agile while enduring personal headwinds that most of us (and certainly I) can’t begin to imagine.
Next, I’d like to mention the folks who worked at Object Mentor Inc. They all took the initial risk of adopting and promoting Agile. Many of them are in the following photo, taken at the kickoff of the first XP Immersion course.
Back Row: Ron Jeffries, author, Brian Button, Lowell Lindstrom, Kent Beck, Micah Martin, Angelique Martin, Susan Rosso, James Grenning.
Front Row: David Farber, Eric Meade, Mike Hill, Chris Biegay, Alan Francis, Jennifer Kohnke, Talisha Jefferson, Pascal Roy.
Not pictured: Tim Ottinger, Jeff Langr, Bob Koss, Jim Newkirk, Michael Feathers, Dean Wampler, and David Chelimsky.
I’d also like to acknowledge the folks who gathered to form the Agile Alliance. Some of them are in the picture that follows, which was taken at the kickoff meeting of that now-august alliance.
Left to right: Mary Poppendieck, Ken Schwaber, author, Mike Beedle, Jim Highsmith. (Not pictured: Ron Crocker.)
Finally, thanks to all the folks at Pearson, especially my publisher Julie Phifer.