The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process And Technology by James Morgan and Jeffrey Liker

What it is about:

While is may seem that Agile methodologies now enjoy the status of incumbent in product design and development, this book describes an alternative of how Toyota organized its development processes, creating a world beating suite of products. The book goes over what it calls the "SocioTechnical System" with its Process, People and Technology aspects. Defying accepted practice, the "Product" aspect does not appear at the top level of the description, but it is because it is embedded throughout all the practices and mindsets that the approach promotes.

Why it changed my thinking:

It is easy to fall into the common assumption that agile equals Scrum or Kanban (Btw another Toyota innovation), this book broadens one's understanding of what is important and what is not in product and technology strategy and development. Its rigorous analysis of value, definition of Lean and the abundant practical details make it an indispensable tool when designing development organizations and how to deliver value through product and technology.

Where to get it:

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