The Art of Business Value

Mark explains with a refreshing view the modern approach to business value. It's teams that ultimately delivery business value. To do so, they need to understand and be able to elicit business value. This is not a role that is exclusively responsibility or a product owner. Teams should not be shielded from the discovery and definition of business value. They should contribute to its definition and delivery. Finally, the role of the CIO is to establish practices that build of the organisation memory, listen to the feedback from the teams and allow the practices to evolve over time. I've also found valuable the concept that what Agile purists might define as waste might actually represent value for the organisation. The goal is to understand what value means for the organisation and leanify the processes and procedures that allow teams to deliver it.

Ok yes maybe it could have been a little shorter but:Once you get to the last third of the book it is full of suggestions, thought-provoking comments and personal challenges to you as a technology leader, management consultant or business leader who depends on technology.Written by a CIO with a sense of humour that has no issue with casting dispersion upon his role or how It is viewed or views others; this book leads on a careful exploration of what is value, what is technology and what then is the value of technology to a business. Why, when and how do you know that what you are doing matters? Top ten book for technology management.

In software I've seen numerous times highly skill developers working with business analysts to build software. The developer pat themselves on the back, basking in the glory of a new release using the latest technologies. But these have oftentimes failed to solve the key objective - help the end user perform their tasks easier and more efficient. This book is very insightful in helping a team deliver what they are supposed to. A very enjoyable read.

Really an inspired book. I loved the honest and humble way the author takes you to a journey to the root meaning of business value. I now also have a better understanding of the CIO role in an agile organisation. Recommended to product owners, scrum masters and actually everyone working in IT

Only 1/3 of the way through but an excellent, thought provoking and very easy read

I really wanted to like this, as it covers a subject I've often ruminated on. But having just finished it, I'm disappointed: most of what's discussed can be summed up as "you can't generalise, it depends on context" which is essentially the conclusion on the last page and is probably what most people would assume before reading the book anyway.