JIM HIGHSMITH JOINS THOUGHTWORKS

Industry luminary will help enterprises move beyond contained Agile initiatives to Continuous Delivery and true business agility


CHICAGO and MELBOURNE, Sept. 14, 2010 - ThoughtWorks (www.thoughtworks.com), the global custom software solutions experts and leaders in enterprise Agile software delivery, today announced that Jim Highsmith has joined the company as an executive consultant and strategic advisor. Highsmith, one of the foremost experts in implementing Agile within large complex IT organizations, will apply his decades of experience to help ThoughtWorks' clients develop governance, funding, resource planning and measurement methods that allow them to realize the strategic benefits of Agile and Continuous Delivery. Highsmith will formally be introduced today as a ThoughtWorks team member at the Agile Australia 2010 Conference (www.agileaustralia.com.au), where he will join ThoughtWorks' chief scientist Martin Fowler as a keynote presenter at the event.

"Many enterprises are ready to move beyond the basics of contained Agile projects, but need help envisioning the potential strategic impact of Agile on their organization, and then implementing a roadmap to meet their goals," said Roy Singham, chairman of ThoughtWorks. "With his deep experience in finance, governance and Agile leadership, Jim will be an invaluable guide to our clients in bridging executive management, development and IT operations to achieve true business agility."

Highsmith brings more than 30 years of experience within the software development and IT industry to ThoughtWorks. He is a former CPA, co-author of the Agile Manifesto, a regular keynote speaker at industry events and a prolific author of some of the most influential books on Agile methodologies, including Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products (Addison Wesley 2009), Agile Software Development Ecosystems (Addison-Wesley, 2002), and Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems (Dorset House, 2000) which won the prestigious Jolt Award. Prior to joining ThoughtWorks, Highsmith directed Cutter Consortium's Agile Project Management Advisory Service and has been a sought-after consultant for IT and product development organizations and software companies in the U.S., Europe, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Japan, India and New Zealand.

"Joining ThoughtWorks will provide me the opportunity to work with some of the brightest and most passionate Agile practitioners - both within ThoughtWorks and through their client base - that are making great strides in enterprise Agile adoption," said Highsmith. "Continuous Delivery is the logical evolution of the Agile movement, and I look forward to working with executive client teams to help them achieve even higher levels of agility and maximize the strategic impact of Agile on their organization."

About ThoughtWorks
ThoughtWorks, Inc. is a global IT consultancy providing Agile-based systems development, consulting and transformation services to Global 1000 companies. It has pioneered many of the most advanced and successful Agile methods of software development and best practices used in the industry today. At its core, ThoughtWorks helps its clients maximize investment and performance across a portfolio of complex, business-critical applications, while reducing time and risk. Its products division, ThoughtWorks Studios, offers tools to manage the entire Agile development lifecycle through its Adaptive ALM® solution, comprised of Mingle®, GoTMand Twist®. ThoughtWorks employs 1,500 professionals to serve clients from offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. For more information please visit: (www.thoughtworks.com).

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