Acknowledgments

We could never have written this book without the generous support of our friends, family, coworkers, colleagues, and industry experts. We’re grateful for the support we’ve received and would like to thank some folks in particular.

Thanks first to our editor at Harvard Business Review Press, Jeff Kehoe, and the wonderful team there who’ve been so helpful to us. We’re particularly grateful to Stephani Finks, who designed a beautiful cover despite having two designers as clients. Thanks also to our agent, Esmond Harmsworth, for connecting us with Harvard. We owe Bruce Wexler a great deal of gratitude for helping us shape the proposal that allowed us to meet Esmond and Jeff. Thanks too to Stephen Parry for graciously sharing book titles with us.

No acknowledgment would be complete without thanking our colleagues and coworkers at Neo, from whom we learned so much. There are over a hundred of you, so we regret we can’t thank you all by name. But we do love and appreciate you.

We benefitted from some generous manuscript readers down the stretch. Giff Constable and Lane Goldstone both shared tough love. Victoria Olsen was particularly incisive late in the game.

Our colleagues on the lean and agile path offered inspiration and support: Bill Scott, Eric Ries, Jeff Patton, Barry O’Reilly, Jonathan Bertfield, David Bland, and Jono Mallanyk.

We’re particularly grateful to the folks working on the front lines who generously gave their time and insight during the research process to help us understand what’s really happening inside organizations today. Thanks to Neil Williams, Dan North, Sonja Kresojevic, Dan Smith, Ian Muir, Rebecca Hendry, Leisa Reichelt, MJ Broadbent, Bill DeRouchey, Dave Cronin, Dan Harrelson, Greg Petroff, Bruce McCarthy, Matias Kiviniemi, Fred Santarpia, Nick Rockwell, Ines Bravo, Corinne Mayans, Stephen Orban, Scout Addis, Michele Tepper, Dan Ryan, Arpan Podduturi, Tom Griffiths, Marvin Lange, Nathan Coe, Tony Collins, Chris Kelly, Mark Chamberlain, Emily Culp, Brendan Marsh, Jez Humble, Melissa Perri, Alethea Hannemann, Matthew Hayto, Kristen Teti, Liz Hamburg, Kevin Heery, David Fine, Dagny Prieto, Hendrik Kleinsmiede, and Karen Pascoe.

And finally, thanks to our families for enduring the writing days, nights, and weekends even though we swore our previous book was our last. Carrie, Grace, and Sophie—once again, your patience and support made this book possible. Vicky, Naomi, and Amanda—you’re the best.