Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations

To find out how agile methods of software development and delivery, e.g., DevOps and Continuous Delivery, affect the performance and satisfaction of IT teams, Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim developed the so-called “DevOps Survey”, conducted it for three years and analyzed the responses using statistical methods.

The results are clear as well as impressive. The bottom line is that the authors have empirically proven that numerous modern agile practices lead to IT teams completing features many times faster, deploying more frequently, making significantly fewer mistakes, and fixing them more quickly.

In addition to the results, the authors explain their research methods in detail and justify their validity. Finally, they present a short case study describing the agile transformation of ING Netherlands.

However, this part turns out to be very short; the focus is clearly on the scientific proof of the effectiveness of agile methods rather than on their description.

The book is well-structured and written understandably. However, it is also quite dry: there are no entertaining anecdotes as in popular science literature.

I recommend the book to IT managers at all levels – especially those who still have doubts about the sustainable positive effects of agile transformation. It is also worth reading for programmers, as it provides scientifically sound arguments to make agile practices appealing to their superiors.

🎧 Suitable as an audiobook? Yes, insofar as all referenced diagrams are included as PDFs. However, I find Dr. Forsgren (one of the authors) rather unsuitable as a narrator due to her monotone manner.