Project to Product by Mik Kersten

Project to Product

by Mik Kersten

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

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.



Reviewed by Jeff Sexton on

5 of 5 stars

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Intriguing Theory Scant On Application. This is one of those books you might read in a Computer Science degree program - probably more on the Master's degree level rather than the Bachelor's, as this is more designed for Tech/ Business Leadership than necessarily a traditional Bachelor's program that is more geared towards students entering the workplace or pursuing further academic careers. *In theory*, the theory here presented sounds pretty solid. While using a manufacturing plant as the touchpoint even though the author later admits that physical manufacturing and software development actually have little in common even in the theoretical world Kersten has crafted here, the actual software development theories *sound* like they could work. But that is precisely the ultimate problem here - though not enough of a problem to warrant a star deduction. Namely, that in failing to provide even a singular concrete example - even from within a classroom or study! - of how this could potentially work in the "real" world, Kersten does himself and his readers a significant disservice.  

 

This book was actually recommended to me by my Group Manager when speaking of my own future career goals as an existing roughly mid career Senior Developer, and again, from a more Tech Leadership level, the book really was quite fascinating. I just *really* wish there had been even a single instance of real world application of the theory at any level at all.

 

Recommended.

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Reading updates

  • 6 October, 2023: Started reading
  • 29 December, 2023: Finished reading
  • 29 December, 2023: Reviewed