Is Agile Reaching a Tipping Point?

Barry Pronier, on bizjournals.com, recently shared why he thinks this is the year millennials will create a flashpoint for the Agile revolution. As he points out, Agile has come a long way since 2001 when Dave Thomas and a group of software developers produced their Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Thomas recognized that development projects needed to be iterative, collaborative, and focused on creating working solutions. Almost twenty years later, we see that the ideas first presented with the introduction of Agile have now become mainstream. Most project managers agree that the Agile approach is the only way to go within the software development field. We are also seeing that millennials are leading this shift. Pronier brings to our attention four key things that are at play:

Millennials entering the project management workforce en mass
Experienced boomers are retiring en mass from project management
The Agile manifesto mirrors millennials preferred methods of working
Millennials want coaches not bosses

Peter Kestenholz Named Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional in Business Solutions

Microsoft honored Peter Kestenholz, Founding Partner and CEO at Projectum, with the following statement earlier this month: “It is with great pride we announce that Peter Kestenholz has been awarded as a Microsoft® Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for 7/1/2018 – 7/1/2019. The Microsoft MVP Award is an annual award that recognizes exceptional technology community leaders worldwide who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with users and Microsoft. All of us at Microsoft recognize and appreciate Peter’s extraordinary contributions and want to take this opportunity to share our appreciation with you.” Peter is entering his 9th year as a Microsoft Business Solution MVP.

Microsoft Launches Blockchain Project

Thenextweb.com has reported on a recent announcement by Microsoft and Ernst & Young (EY). It is the launch of a blockchain solution for content rights and royalties management, the first solution of its kind for Microsoft’s game publisher partners. After testing, Microsoft and EY hope to implement the solution across all industry verticals which require licensing of intellectual property or assets. The network is built using the Quorum protocol and Microsoft’s Azure cloud and blockchain infrastructures.