Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses experiences in software, finance, large scale infrastructure projects and health care, to name a few. Practitioners operate in a necessary reality. In the best environments, shipping and an affirmative culture are what matter most. In the worst, it is politics and survival. In any environment practitioners are challenged to adopt best practices and adapt their style to the environment in which the project is occurring. Best practices and the manifestation of practitioners’ adaptations can be observed in a range of vectors. Rituals, artifacts, tools, techniques, discussions, lessons learned all populate these vectors. The Agile Manifesto seemed to offer the base for the most sensible organizing principle, with further sense making provided by the Association of Project Management (APM) and Project Management Institute's definition of project management.