I was curious how many of the Agile Manifesto guys had a "product" background. By that I mean that they have worked in a product shop at least more recently than they got into the "agile" game. Here is the score:
- Mike Beedle - don't think so, his Agile bio suggests that he has been consulting since the 90's
- Arie van Bennekum - don't think so, from his Agile bio
- Alistair Cockburn - no, according to the bio on his site
- Ward Cunningham - maybe, from his Agile bio -- can't tell from other online sources
- Martin Fowler - no, from the bio on his site
- Jim Highsmith - no, from the bio on his site
- Andrew Hunt - no, from the bio on his site
- Ron Jeffries - no, from the bio on xprogramming.com
- Joe Kern - no, despite the fact that his bio at immuexa talks of Compuware's OptimalJ "product team"
- Brian Marick - maybe (as a tester?), from his bio at exampler
- Robert C. Martin - no, from his bios at Object Mentor and his blog
- Ken Schwaber - no, from his Agile bio
- Jeff Sutherland - yes, from his Agile bio
- Dave Thomas - don't know
So, we have 1 yes, 2 maybe yes, 2 maybe no, 8 no and 1 unknown. Let's split the difference on the uncertain ones and say 10.5 no to 3.5 yes.
