Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In the 1980s, an entrepreneur named Roy Singham started a management con-
sulting company in Chicago, Illinois, called Singham Business Services. As so of-
ten happens in the software business, Singham changed the name of his company.
Singham incorporated under the name ThoughtWorks in 1993, also in Chicago.
The new ThoughtWorks company concentrated on trying to improve software
development methods and practices, certainly a laudable goal. The company has
both a consulting portion and a software tool portion called ThoughtWorks Stu-
dios. ThoughtWorks also commingles commercial applications with open-source
applications, which is an interesting and unusual business model.
The well-known software engineer Martin Fowler joined ThoughtWorks in
1999 and became its chief scientist in 2000.
ThoughtWorks pioneered some interesting technologies on its own and was
also an early contributor to the Agile methodology. Indeed, Martin Fowler was one
of the signatories of the Agile Manifesto in 2001. ThoughtWorks is also working
on continuous development and continuous integration, or attempting to convert
software from discrete releases several months apart to a kind of process-control
flow of rapid releases of new functions as they become ready.
One of the more interesting aspects of ThoughtWorks is its strong commitment
to social issues. According to its website, the company mission has three key ele-
ments:
• Run a sustainable business
• Champion software excellence and revolutionize the IT industry
• Advocate passionately for social and economic justice
The third element is both unusual and laudable.
The ThoughtWorks support of social issues includes providing technical aid to
nonprofit and charitable groups that need technical assistance. ThoughtWorks also
allows employees to provide nonbillable time to charitable groups. ThoughtWorks
also contributed an application that allowed emergency donations to flood victims
in Australia.
Another unusual aspect of the ThoughtWorks social program is that employees
are allowed to contribute open-source code that they have developed. This is a
very unusual concept, and it should be studied by business schools.
Currently, ThoughtWorks has more than 2,000 employees and has offices
in Chicago; London; Bangalore; Brisbane; Calgary; San Francisco; and Porto
Alegre, Brazil.
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