Project to Product - by Mik Kersten (Paperback)

About the Book

In the Age of Software, will your business dominate and maintain relevance--or will it become a digital relic?

In Project to Product, Value Stream Network pioneer and technology business leader Dr. Mik Kersten introduces the Flow Framework--a new way of seeing, measuring, and managing software delivery. The Flow Framework will enable your company's evolution from project-oriented dinosaur to product-centric innovator that thrives in the Age of Software. If you're driving your organization's transformation at any level, this is the book for you.

Book Synopsis

In the Age of Software, will your business dominate and maintain relevance--or will it become a digital relic?

"If you want to get rid of obsolete practices and succeed with the new digital, read this book." --Carlota Perez, author of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital

"Mik provides a great articulation of the importance of focussing on the work not the workers, on the value stream network, and on lessons learned on what to avoid." --Jon Smart, author of Sooner Safer Happier

"A major contribution to the theory of management in the age of software." --Carliss Baldwin, coauthor of Design Rules, Volume 1: The Power of Modularity

As tech giants and startups disrupt every market, those who master large-scale software delivery will define the economic landscape of the 21st century, just as the masters of mass production defined the landscape in the 20th. Unfortunately, business and technology leaders are woefully ill-equipped to solve the problems posed by digital transformation. At the current rate of disruption, half of S&P 500 companies will be replaced in the next ten years. A new approach is needed.

In Project to Product, Value Stream Network pioneer and technology business leader Dr. Mik Kersten introduces the Flow Framework--a new way of seeing, measuring, and managing software delivery. The Flow Framework will enable your company's evolution from project-oriented dinosaur to product-centric innovator that thrives in the Age of Software. If you're driving your organization's transformation at any level, this is the book for you.

"[Project to Product] that gives technology leaders a framework to enable the change necessary for companies to remain relevant." --Dominica DeGrandis, author of Making Work Visible

Review Quotes

"During our transformation to a '100% Agile' BMW Group IT organization, we discovered early on that the former project portfolio approach did not sufficiently support our journey. Therefore, we started with a transition from 'project to product.' The exchanges with Mik on the topic of product orientation and the Flow Framework was very helpful and a real inspiration for me. The fact that Mik is now sharing his vast knowledge in this book makes me particularly happy. It provides the motivation and the toolset necessary to help create a product portfolio based on a value driven approach. For me it is a must read--and indeed it is also a fun read."--Ralf Waltram, Head of IT Systems Research & Development, BMW Group

"Every now and then, a body of work comes along with such timely precision that you think hallelujah! Mik's book Project to Product is the perfect antidote for those businesses struggling with digital transformation, broken Agile implementations, and the onslaught of enterprise disruption. In fact, it's a really important component in the world of flow which is at the forefront of business agility. Not only will this framework help your teams ignite their software delivery cadence but to do it at scale, with high quality, reduced costs, and increased value. And more importantly, with happy teams--with the metrics to prove it."--Fin Goulding, International CIO at Aviva and co-author of Flow: A Handbook for Change-Makers, Mavericks, Innovation Activists, Leaders: Digital Transformation Simplified and 12 Steps to Flow: The New Framework for Business Agility

"I had the pleasure of having an advance copy of Project to Product at my company over the summer--and what an eye opener it is. This book is spot on the journey Volvo Car Group is starting up right now. The insight Mik has in our industry and the way his book describes the Age of Software makes this our new "go to" book for our product journey in our digital landscape!"--Niclas Ericsson, Senior IT Manager, Volvo Car Corp

"If you want to get rid of obsolete practices and succeed with the new digital, read this book."--Carlota Perez, author of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages

"Many large organizations are still applying a management model from the early 1900s optimized for manual labor to everything they do, including complex, unique product development. With this book, Mik provides a great articulation of the importance of focussing on the work not the workers, on the value stream network, and on lessons learned on what to avoid. Mik, who has many years experience working with hundreds of companies on this topic, shares his wisdom and insights via a Flow Framework, which is immensely valuable for organizations who recognize the need to move to better ways of working."--Jonathan Smart

"Organizing software development as a group of loosely connected projects will never lead to good products. Kersten explains how to tie work products to value streams corresponding to features, defects, security, and (technical) debt....A major contribution to the theory of management in the age of software."--Carliss Y. Baldwin, William L. White Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, Emerita, and co-author of Design Rules, Volume 1: The Power of Modularity.

"Project to Product is a very insightful book, and the overall model Mik lays out for the Flow Framework is especially intriguing. Not only does Mik address the complexities of Agile transformation and moving to a product-based development, he also discusses how to get your architecture, process, and metrics integrated in a way to effectively measure value delivery. I got pretty excited about the Flow Framework and look forward to applying it to my own technology transformation activities."--Ross Clanton, Chief Architect and Managing Director, American Airlines

"Project to Product is going to be one of the most influential reads of 2019 and beyond. One that connects work outcomes to business results. One that provides models to make better business decisions. One that gives technology leaders a framework to enable the change necessary for companies to remain relevant.."--Dominica DeGrandis

"With the introduction of the Flow Framework, Mik has provided a missing element to any large-scale Agile transformation. I recommend that anyone involved in complex product delivery read this book and think about how they can apply this thinking to their value stream."--Dave West, CEO Scrum.org and author of Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum: Continuously Delivering an Integrated Product with Multiple Scrum Teams

About the Author

Dr. Mik Kersten started his career as a Research Scientist at Xerox PARC where he created the first aspect-oriented development environment. He then pioneered the integration of development tools with Agile and DevOps as part of his Computer Science PhD at the University of British Columbia. Founding Tasktop out of that research, Mik has written over one million lines of open-source code that is still in use today, and he has brought seven successful open-source and commercial products to market.

Mik's experiences working with some of the largest digital transformations in the world has led him to identify the critical disconnect between business leaders and technologists. Since that time, Mik has been working on creating new tools and a new framework for connecting software value stream networks and enabling the shift from project to product.

Mik lives with his family in Vancouver, Canada, and travels globally, sharing his vision for transforming how software is built.