Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility Paperback – 11 Dec. 2022

Most lean-agile practitioners will have a go to set of books they call upon. These books will have no doubt been influential not only in their own journey, but also be a regular recommendation they make to others going through a similar learning and/or upskilling experience. Books that come to mind in this category are publications such as The Phoenix Project, Coaching Agile Teams, Lean Startup and Accelerate. What has been lacking (certainly in this readers opinion), is a book that really tackles how you do this at scale across any type of organisation, how to do it in a way that is pragmatic not dogmatic. Something that is principle based and is supported by real empirical evidence of the author(s) own journey. Thankfully, we don't have to look anymore, as this is it. This is the book you're looking for. Easy to read for both experienced practitioners and newcomers to modern ways of working, Jon, Miles, Zsolt and Simon have succeeded in putting together a collection of solid patterns and anti-patterns for anyone looking to embrace new ways of working. This will not try to convert you into a single framework/method or present Agile/Lean/DevOps as any form of silver bullet - it will respect you and your context, your complex adaptive system of an organisation, and guide you on how you can get to the things that matter for any organisation, that is #BVSSH - Better Value Sooner Safer Happier.

It’s been a great relief to find a guide to everything I’ve come across in my own work in local government ICT. The patterns and anti patterns resonate very deeply. There has been much learning over the years, painful learning, that could have been short cut with the help of Sooner Safer Happier. And much learning for the future that will come quicker and hopefully much less painfully.I mention or reference BVSSH to my team and colleagues at least daily and have given the book 4 times as a gift.Everyone involved in shaping how an organisation works and thinks should have a copy of Sooner Safer Happier next to their desks.

They did not try and sugar coat what they were saying. It was honest, fact-based upon experience, fun to read, lots to consider. For many it will remain a challenge. For others, I hope they see it as a way forward. I wish they had spent more time on leaders and middle management, maybe a future book. Still, it must be on your shelf and while you read it, create a list of stories for you to try. Good luck!

This book could be the most valuable of all in a crowded space. I have worked in this area for many years and consider my self as very experienced but still found so much value investing my time reading this work.

A must read for anyone who believes that focusing on agility is more important than doing Agile.

I've worked with a lot of the frameworks and read a lot of the books, but this cuts through as the definitive guide to optimising for business agility. Great work.

Great content in easy to consume chapters and well written with real life experiences.

The trouble is, having "control armies" sat typically in a different organization, keeping keeping eye on billions of dollars of delivery is neither practical, nor politically justifiable. I'm hearing the authors themselves have moved on from some of the utopian ideas presented in this book.There are nuggets you can definitely take away though as well as a strong positive vibe that things could be better than they are today in a typical large enterprise, and optimism that one day they will.