Mary Poppendieck started her career as a process control programmer, moved on to manage the IT department of a manufacturing plant, and then ended up in product development, where she was both a product champion and department manager. Mary considered retirement but found herself managing a government software project where she first encountered the word “waterfall.” She decided the time had come for a new paradigm and wrote the award-winning book Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit (2003). Mary has found retirement elusive as she lectures and teaches classes with her husband, Tom. Based on their ongoing learning, they wrote a second book, Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash (2006); a third, Leading Lean Software Development: Results are Not the Point (2009); and a fourth, The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions (2013). A popular writer and speaker, Mary continues to bring fresh perspectives to the world of software development.