Acknowledgments

If you’ve read an acknowledgements section before, you know that it always starts with thanking the families of the writers. We now know why. They are the people from whom we have taken time: writing while they fall asleep, writing instead of spending time with them, giving them cryptic answers when we were somewhere on page 267 instead of at the playground where we should have been. And still they supported us throughout this project. Without them and without their support, this book would not have been possible.

We owe the community around us a big thank you for this opportunity—all the people we have learned from, and continue to learn from, every day and who in many cases know this stuff better than we do. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Thanks for your shoulders and your encouragement during this process.

There are other people we want to mention who have been particularly helpful, inspiring, and supportive: Christophe Achouiantz, Torbjörn Gyllebring, David J. Anderson, Jim Benson, Corey Ladas, David P. Joyce, Benjamin Mitchell, Karl Scotland, Mattias Skarin, Don Reinertsen, Alan Shalloway, Mary and Tom Poppendieck, Håkan Forss, Måns Sandström, Eric Willeke, Jabe Bloom, Mike Burrows, Dennis Stevens, and all the folks at the Kanban Leadership Retreat. We’ve learned a lot and had a great time with the Stockholm Lean Coffee bunch, including Håkan Forss and all the other wonderful people there.

An array of people also helped us with reviews and feedback, for which we are very grateful. A special thank you to Rasmus Rasmussen and Viktor Cessan for your insights, and to the following reviewers: Adam Read, Barry Warren Polley, Burk Hufnagel, Chris Gaschler, Craig Smith, Daniel Bretoi, Dror Helper, Ernesto Cardenas Cangahuala, Jorge Bo, Karl Metivier, Marius Butuc, Richard Bogle, and Sune Lomholt.

Special thanks to Jim Benson for providing the foreword to our book, to Danny Vinson for his careful technical proofread of the manuscript shortly before it went to production, and to Robert Vallmark for producing the great-looking^[2] avatars—you really helped us improve the book’s visuals!

² Great looking and funny caricatures, although not very flattering to us. Joakim’s avatar received the comment “It looks like an Italian version of you after you’ve had too much pizza,” and Jim Benson asked why Marcus looked like Jeff Goldblum.

We have been fortunate to work together with the great crew at Manning, and we are convinced that Manning set aside their best people just for us.

Thank you to Bert Bates for helping us push the envelope on how a Manning book could look and feel. We’re fortunate to have had access to your head at the beginning of this process. And of course, thank you to publisher Marjan Bace for letting us write the book this way.

A big thank you to Beth Lexleigh and Cynthia Kane, our development editors, for your effortless reviewing and pushing when things were slow. You took our ramblings and turned them into a real book.

Thanks to all the other people at Manning who helped us in ways big and small, in no particular order: Michael Stephens, Maureen Spencer, Tiffany Taylor, Kevin Sullivan, Mary Piergies, Janet Vail, and Candace Gillhoolley.

Marcus

I first want and need to thank God—the foundation of everything I am and do.

My personal thank you goes to Elin and the boys (Albert, Arvid, and Gustav), who have supported me during this process. I even got some design help from Albert from time to time.

To my father and mother who raised me to be what I am today (for better or for worse): “Tack mamma och pappa, för allt ni gjort för mig.”

To all the people in my close community whom I’ve turned to with questions and worries from time to time—a mega thank you. I got nothing but cheering and support from you guys: Torbjörn Gyllebring, Håkan Forss, Måns Sandström, Anders Löwen-borg, Hugo Häggmark, Tomas Näslund, Per Jansson, Kalle Ljungholm—love you guys.

To Avega Group and Aptitud (my employers during the time of writing): thank you for letting me take on this project. Avega even paid me for it! It blew me away, when you offered that! You’re great, both of you!

And finally, to Joakim—this book would have been rubbish without you. It might have been finished earlier, but no one would have read it. I’ve learned more than a lot from you and continue to do so. Thanks, man!

Joakim

My participation in this book would not have been possible without the support from my family. To the family that gave me life and amazing opportunities (in chronological order): my grandparents Albin, Ingeborg, and Molly; my parents Ove and Elisabet and their siblings and their families; my sister Anna and my brother Henrik—thank you for making me who I am. I’m extremely grateful to the love of my life, Anna, and our children Alva, Saga, Albin, and Iko—your support has been phenomenal, as always.

Thank you Marcus for involving me in this book; for your endless patience with my slow and sparse contributions; for constantly soldiering on and writing; for coping with my not always very polite criticisms, recommendations, and ideas for big rewrites to be mainly carried out by you; for the huge effort you’ve put into the drudgery of formatting, pixel-pushing, and so on; for pushing me yet never rushing me or making me feel bad for not contributing enough (I did that myself); for your cheerful and supporting personality; in short, for being Marcus!